Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin 1 - Knighthood
by gothicjedi666
Summary: I'm mostly writing this because I need a change of pace from the other stories I've been writing. So time to explore a land of magic and adventure. I might do a sequel to or two later on. Normally warnings for my stories apply.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note**

If you haven't seen the BBC show Merlin, I suggest watching the pilot episode at least as that will tell a lot of what you need to know. Even if you don't go do that you won't have a hard time understanding what's going on as this setting is basically a typical swords and sorcery setting that is based on the legends King Arthur, Merlin and Camelot, with a few twists. Merlin is a boy who has to hide his powers, Arthur is heir to the throne rather than the ruler, and Morgan La Fey (aka Morgana) isn't yet the baddie. Other than that it's not hard to understand, you've got knights, witches and warlocks, many kinds of magical creatures, a tyrant king, and some funky magic stuff. I'll explain some stuff as the story progresses as well.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 1**

 **Cosmic Warehouse**

After spending some many years in a few different science fiction settings, which mostly involved flying around while trying to gather as much technology, power and allies, as possible, it was time for a change. Space battles and alien babes were great, but after so many years of that sort of thing I badly needed a change of pace. Which Jump Chain could allow due to the way it was designed.

So rather than head to yet another sci fi universe I was going to a magical fantasy land. A place full of knights, mystical wonders, strange beasts, and hopefully a few beautiful princesses who needed saving. However while I would get around to learning some magic, this wasn't what this Jump was about. Mostly I craved a more simple existence.

Which wasn't to say I wouldn't be taking a chance to learn more about magic, to collect cool stuff for my warehouse, or recruit a companion, it was just that I wanted to take things easy for the next decade, or at least have things be somewhat easier, until the next Jump. Then I could back to dealing with affairs on a massive scale.

In the last Jump, which had been the Stargate verse, I'd decided the fates of whole worlds, and even entire galaxies at times, and that put a lot of strain on a person. As did creating an alliance of worlds meant to elevate the quality of life for humans on many planets. Even having a harem of attractive and talented women only helped to a certain extent when building a galactic government meant to unite so many different human worlds.

For this Jump at most all I'd have to worry about was one kingdom. Besides this wouldn't really be my concern as it was up to Merlin and Arthur to protect Camelot, and unite the realm. As for me, I wanted to play the role of Knight and have some adventures without having to concern myself so much with the grand scheme of things.

Another tempting reason for this setting was my nationality. I'd not truly been British for many, many years, having not even lived on Earth for a quite long time, and I'd only visited a few times, as such I didn't consider myself a citizen of that planet, or any nation upon it. In fact given all my genetic alterations, to both my mind and body, and I might not even really count as human anymore. I'd advanced my development using Stargate to the point that I might be able to ascend, if I do desired, so I could be considered a type of Ancient, like the Alterrans or the Lanteans.

However despite all those changes and time spent away from Earth, there was a small part of me that felt I should show some pride in my nation of birth. As such I'd decided to spend a Jump in a setting that was British. You couldn't get much more British than King Arthur and Camelot.

None of companions were interested in spending the next decade in a swords and sorcery type world. But I'd made my desire to take a Jump of my choosing clear some time ago. Ironically I was the Jumper, but this was first Jump that was my choice. So it had been decided that everyone other than Cortana, Cameron, they were artificial lifeforms and counted as perks not as people, and I, would go into stasis within the Cosmic Warehouse, while I went off and had my fun. From their point of view no time at all would pass, and then once I was done with with the magical land, we could all get together and decide on the next Jump.

Which would most likely be the Star Wars galaxy as that place had a few bits of technology some of my harem wanted to mess around with, and it was a big galaxy so there was plenty of it to explore. Plus with our hyperdrive we could even see what was going in other galaxies within dimension. Perhaps we would even find the Earth of that universe, and see if it was anything like my world. Heck it could be my native Earth.

That could wait for a decade, for now I needed to focus on the next Jump and spend my CP wisely.

Budget - 1000cp

Age 17+d8 = 24

Gender (Fixed)

Origin

Knight - 900

Perks

He Went To The Tavern - 800

Knightly Skills - Free

Chivalry - 750

Authority - 600

Mystical Sensitivity - 500

The Lay Of The Land - 400

Knight's Gear - 400

Magic Ring - 300

Dragon Forged Weapon - 0

That had been simply enough. I'd been able to get some good items and perks by spending my CP in such a way that I got a lot of discounts.

"Nice set up" Jump Chan praised.

She'd appeared in the form a humble serving girl this time, well actually I'd call what she was wearing a tavern wench outfit, and while I'd not seen this entity for some time her presence here did not surprise me in the least. I suspected that she too was interested in a change of pace and would find my adventures in a sword and sorcery world to be a welcome change from science fiction setting.

"I've very carefully selected every item and perk" I said.

My background for this Jump should allow me to blend in, and from past experience I knew that the memories I'd gain from the chosen origin wouldn't affect my personality too much. There would no emotional connection to the memories, it would be live having watched a movie of someone else's life rather than having actually lived it.  
At least that was how it had worked for me in the past, it might be different for other Jumpers.

The Perk called _He Went To The Tavern_ , should allow me to excuse myself from certain events. And with the knight's training and gear, along with the other perks I'd chosen I should be able to do my job. Which would hopefully be fun.

"I assume that Mystical Sensitivity gives me enough magical power for some basic spell casting" I said.

While that wasn't really a question she answered me anyway.

"Yes" she said "But it will take years of study before you do anything other than the most simply of spells, and you'll never reach the level of Merlin, Mordred or Morgana".

That was fine by me as this Jump wasn't about me acquiring vast amounts of power. I'd already done that by becoming a near-ascend being. Those abilities would allow to me to go toe-to-toe with the big guns even without magic. And I had would have my own Excalibur. Plus I had weapons that could vapourise people, which wasn't something spellcaster and sword wielders would be able to counter.

"Which is why I picked the magic ring in case I ever need the extra voltage" I said to Jump Chan.

That would be something I would have to use sparingly, and while it had cost me some priceless CP, it was best to have it in case of emergencies. I might have near-ascended powers and advanced tech, but I could still be attacked in unexpected ways. For example I might need to cast a powerful spell to counter one that had been placed upon me.

"In case you were wondering I don't count as a minor god" Jump Chan told me.

She was referring to the sword I would soon have that could kill anything up to a minor god. What exactly counted as a minor god was unknown to me, but I figured that the weapon would serve me well enough should I face supernatural creatures in the future.

"Before you start your next Jump there's a couple of supplements to deal with" Jump Chan informed me "As a bonus for your wonderful work in the Stargate verse I'm giving you two bonuses. One big and one small. The big one is your own arena".

The terminal I'd be using to plan the Merlin Jump was now showing a new document.

Arena Supplement.

I quickly read through it and decided what I wanted.

Budget - 100

What If - 60

Extra Opponents - 50

Video Playback - 40

Spectator Seating - 30

Match Modes - 20

Terrain Adjustments - 0

"Done" I said.

There was a rumbling sound that I guessed was the arena getting added to Cosmic Warehouse just as the Space Dock and Vehicle Bay had been added in the past.

"I was going to give you your very own shipyard" Jump Chan let me know "But that can wait till the next Jump. An Arena will be more useful for you if you're going to be a knight".

The Arena didn't thrill me much because I could use the holodeck on my ship to train, and while the Arena could provide me with more challenging foes, and it was more durable, it didn't seem impressive when compared to the other supplements I'd gotten.

"We've got a little more time before Cameron's software updates are finished" Jump Chain was now saying "She's going to play the part of your maid servant, so that she can stay close".

A Knight should have a manservant or a squire rather than a maid, but Cameron's whole existence was centred around protecting me and keeping my happy, and she couldn't that while in stasis. As a Terminator she was designed to infiltrate, so she should be able to blend in and play her role. She might have an easier time of it she could chose to switch genders at the start of the Jump, as an AI gender didn't mean much to her, but I much preferred that she keep her female form as I very much enjoyed getting to use her physical form for my sexual pleasure.

"I noticed that you're having a little trouble with storing everything you need" Jump Chan said "This might help, just a little".

The terminal now displayed something new.

Jumpchain Inventory Bag Supplement.

I quickly read through the computer file and made my choices. The bag wouldn't be a great help in future Jumps, however it would useful the Jump that would soon start as I'd likely be spending time in the wilderness and not be able to access my Cosmic Warehouse.

Budget 1000cp

Pouch - 950cp

Material - 850cp (leather)

Capacity - 800cp (2 cubic meters)

Garbage Disposal - 700cp

Watertight - 600cp

Airtight - 500cp

Fireproof - 400cp

Preserving - 300p

Returning - 200cp

Security - 0cp

"Looks like you're ready to go" declared Jump Chan.

I nodded in agreement, knowing that I could sort out other arrangements after I started the Jump, and a moment later Jump Chan clicked her fingers, which caused everything to go dark.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I woke up the sound of opening curtains, and sunlight streaming into my bedroom. Which was not the most pleasant way for someone to get woken up, even if it was quick. However as effective as that was I didn't fully become aware of my surroundings until I heard someone speak to me with a familiar voice.

"Master, you need to get up" Cameron said.

When I looked at her I had to smile as she was dressed in a simple, yet flattering dress, that showed off a lot more cleavage that should be proper for given the setting. The dress she wore had been designed to not only draw attention to the bosom, it also enhanced the sight of them. Even Cameron's modest breasts seemed larger in that outfit.

"You've never called me that before" I said to Cameron as she placed some food on a nearby table.

I was more hungry than I had been for a while, so I got up and went to the table, it took a great deal of willpower to stop myself from attacking the small breakfast she had set out. Somehow I was able to start eating without looking like an animal.

While I was sort of used to her serving me so this wouldn't be too strange, it was a little odd to have Cameron acting the role of serving girl. She was such a powerful being, unless someone stopped her with magic, she could slaughter everyone in this castle with ease of that I was sure.

"My memory banks are filled with detailed information about this setting" Cameron informed me as she started making my bed "As a serving girl my legal status is only slightly better than that of your horse. I'm bound to serve you".

Thanks to the new memories I'd been given I knew that I did in fact own a horse. It was part of the package I'd gotten when selecting Knight's Gear when doing the setup. It wasn't a great horse, just a fine one, which made sense as one of items I could have brought was a great war horse, and it wouldn't make much sense to get that, forking out the extra CP, if it was equal to the horse that came as part of Knight's Gear.

Since I'd selected a Knight's origin I also had a knight's education so I knew that Cameron was a serf, and that wasn't always the same thing as a servant. Unlike Knight and other nobles, or freemen, serfs did not enjoy property rights as did others. Serfs were restricted from leaving their lord's' land, and were more or less slaves. Were as Freemen, which was a rank a serf was able to obtain, could own businesses, and often had important jobs, like that of blacksmith.

Both male and female serfs had to labour as part of their services to their lords, and it was an inherited status. A serf woman would pass her serfdom status to her children, not that Cameron had to worry about that since she couldn't give birth.

Since a serf could gain freedom when released by their lord for their service by their lord. I could free Cameron from my service, however I wouldn't as she needed to play her role in order to help me stay safe. Besides she'd refuse the offer.

In return for their surface the serfs were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the lord's dominion to maintain their own subsistence. If these rights were honoured then at least serfs were somewhat better off than slaves. If not by much.

Freemen, or free tenants held their land by one of a variety of contracts of feudal land-tenure and were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord, and had a good degree of security and independence, at least when compared to a serf.

"Well if it gets too much for you, we can always leave" I said to Cameron.

Camelot was just one kingdom on an island that was full of kingdoms, and that island was very small when compared to the rest of the planet. As such there was plenty out there to explore. Places were people with our skills could carve out a good living.

"I'm only concerned for your safety and happiness" Cameron stated "And in a sense I've always been your property".

While I saw her as a companion, in fact she'd been given to me as bonus for completing my second Jump, which meant she was a Perk more than person. Still that didn't stop me from trying to treat her like a person. She might not be human, but then in some ways neither was I.

Yet despite my good intentions the sight of her laying out my armour and weapons with great care did please me. I wondered if anyone would find it odd that I had a female servant doing these things rather than a serving boy, but I didn't care that much, and in my experience people just seemed to accept matters that had been arranged by the setup of a Jump Chain. Hopefully this would remain the case.

As I ate the simple food I'd been served I mentally went over what I knew about this kingdom and the people who lived within its borders. Which wasn't a lot when compared to what I knew of other settings. I had been able to put together some files, but they weren't very detailed, so I would have to add them.

Camelot was one of the kingdoms of Albion, the lands that would come to be known as England in later years. Like many kingdoms in this time Camelot was an absolute monarchy, one that was ruled by Uther Pendragon who made all decisions until he was deposed by his traitorous daughter, Morgana, and her half-sister Morgause. Arthur would then retake the kingdom, and rule even while his father was still alive. However I couldn't depend on that happening now as simply by existing here I could alter events.

In the middle of the city was the castle, which was called the citadel, this where the royal family (Uther, Arthur, and Morgana) and the nobility lived, including the knights like me, and where court is held. The castle was very large and constructed of some kind of white brick. It had several tall towers, and good strong walls, it was known to be virtually impregnable and as such unless an attacker had some sort of advantage he'd be a fool to lay siege to the citadel.

Also within the castle grounds are the quarters of the court physician, where Gaius and Merlin live, or would live. My new memories let me know that Prince Arthur, who I recalled spending many an afternoon training with, currently had no man servant despite his rank as they didn't tend to last very long in his service. Unlike Merlin they must not been able to withstand the verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

I assumed that Merlin would arrive soon, and I would keep an eye out for him. I would also come to pity him very quickly since I knew some of what he would be forced to put up with in order to keep his cover. Perhaps I would be able to ease his burdens somewhat or at least I could be nice to him.

In the show Camelot was shown to be a very wealthy kingdom. Proven by the fact that the kingdom could afford to offer as a prize a thousand gold coins for winning one of its tournaments. Because of this many kings and warlords wished to conquer this kingdom for its wealth.

Thankfully for the people living in the lands of Camelot, this kingdom had a large and well trained army, and the Knights of Camelot were fine warriors. I knew this because I could recall training with them, and seeing how well they could fight.

Within these lands King Uther, who conquered Camelot rather than inherit the throne, had supreme authority and that authority was not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs. Which made him a total tyrant, much like the Goa'uld.

Uther also dealt ruthlessly with any threats, and he considered all magic users to be threats regardless if they were evil or not, and I was sure that many of them wouldn't have been threats to anyone if he'd not gone after them. It was somewhat like the situation in Dragon Age two with the templars and mages only the mages were killed rather than enslaved, and then maybe killed.

About twenty years ago Uther pretty much went on a crusade of genocide against magical people after his wife had died because he'd used magic so that his barren wife could give him a son. Rather than accept blame he lashed out at all magic and those who used it, and now magic users lashed out at Camelot.

He hadn't been totally wrong to do so as some magic users were evil, and the man wasn't without some noble qualities, he did love his children at least and would place his own life in danger for them, however I did consider him a villian. Still I had no intention of killing him as I didn't want to become involved in the major events, at least not now.

Uther's son, Prince Arthur, would make a better king, but he wasn't ready to rule at this point, he was not experienced enough to take the throne. Not that anyone was really ready for a leadership role. I'd learned that for myself when building the Confederation.

Arthur was the once and future king, meaning that he would rule twice. He was suppose to return when Albion's need was greatest. Since he didn't turn up doing World War Two, when England faced Nazis invasion and was getting bombed in the Blitz, that meant something even worse might happen in the far future.

He was also a great warrior, brave, and smarter than he looked. Alas he was kind of a jerk, and a spoilt git as well. Sadly for me I'd have to be spend time in his presence, and wait for him to grow up, which could take years.

Another person of note who lived in the citadel was the Lady Morgana, who was Uther's ward, and unknown to nearly everyone, his illegitimate daughter. Uther had an affair with his best friend's wife and Morgana was the product of that affair. Finding this out was one of the things that would corrupt Morgana, and send her on the path to becoming a dark lady. But right now she was a sweet girl.

Now that I'd finished eating my simple but still filling breakfast, I got up from the table and took some time to inspect my equipment. I'd been provided with clothing typical of the time period, and it was thankfully made of good quality linen rather than itchy wool. I recalled that in this time period things like fleas were a problem for people so I would make sure that my clothes were replaced with stuff take out of the replicator rather than bought locally.

As for my armour, that was also of high quality. I had chain mail, which was regularly worn by knights for protection. It was made from small metal chains that were linked together to form a mesh. Even this primitive stuff was an effective defence from weapons such as a sword or other piercing weapons. It even offered some protection from weapons like maces and warhammers.

The cloak and shield were red in colour, and they showed the dragon that was the symbol of the Pendragon family. All the Knights of Camelot wore the same colours and used the dragon symbol. While King Uther wasn't worthy of respect, the symbol shown by the Knight of Camelot was worn proudly.

Hopefully I should be able to replicate my armour, and produce an exact copy of the stuff that was made from superior materials, while still looking like the normal stuff. My healing abilities, combined with my genetically engineered body meant that my meatsuit was more sturdy than most, but I was still mortal and could be killed.

I would be without most of normal protections, but none of them would have helped me against magic in any case, and the most sophisticated weapons they had in this world was the crossbow. So I was actually in far less danger than I had been in during other Jumps.

Bigger risks to my wellbeing, such as starvation, and disease, were no concern at all since I had the means to sort out such problems waiting for me within my Cosmic Warehouse. The tricky part would be explaining away any sudden recoveries.

Had I the skill I might even make armour from sort of mystical metal gotten via the Matter Furnace, and I might be able to do learn to do just that, but given where I was it too risky to use magical stuff. The ring and the sword were pushing it.

At least the ring was easy to hide, and as for the sword, well as long as I didn't go and use to vanquish some supernatural creatures in front of people then I should be okay. Otherwise it was just an ornate looking weapon. Sure it seemed very expensive and well made, but not mystical.

Uther used a sword just like mine to destroy an undead monster. Still I would have to be careful as Uther was a massive hypocritic, it was okay for him to use magic, but if anyone else did then they had to die. He'd have me killed without a second thought if he even an inkling of what I actually was.

Not that I would be in much danger I had plans to ensure my safety, and if worse came to worse I'd take Cameron and beam off to somewhere far away land.

"You have a training sessions this afternoon" Cameron informed me.

As a Knight of Camelot I was an elite warrior, well trained, armed and armoured with the best that could be supplied. My new memories, which I felt emotionally disconnected from like the ones from my Mass Effect origin, let me know what I required to know in order to pass as a knight.

I knew that people of Camelot, those that knew of me, thought I was the youngest son of some minor noble, who owned land no one cared about far from the city, and that the lord's holdings were meager. Despite these somewhat humble beginnings I was considered to be a decent knight, of good breeding, known to be wealthy, and as a man of intelligence, or at least that was the impression I had.

My training as a knight had taken place rather later than most nobles. This was because after becoming an adult, and my father sending me off into the world to make my own way in life (which was a nice way of saying he'd kicked me out) I'd travelled far and wide, obtaining wealth form some adventure, before coming to Camelot for my formal training.

Which not only explained why a son of a minor noble could be so wealthy, it would also help me if I screwed and mentioned something very odd. I could just tell people the oddity was from some far distant land I had visited. Most people in this sort of society never went more than few miles from their village so it wasn't as if anyone could contradict me.

This cover would be useful if I decided to introduce some more modern things and ideas to this primitive kingdom. Already my advanced mind was coming with some notions that could make more me influential within these lands, and beyond should I so desire.

"So my morning is free" I said while reaching for the key to Cosmic Warehouse, which was always on my person "We'll go to the Vehicle Bay and check out the MAKO".

The toilet facilities, which was a bench with a hole in it over a bucket, below an open window, weren't something I wanted to use, but it was behind a door that could be locked. So I could use it to open a doorway to the Cosmic Warehouse.

"We need to move quickly, I have chores to do" Cameron told me "I'll get punished if I don't get all my jobs done".

That didn't seem worthy of concern.

"You don't feel pain, get tired or become hungry" I said "So how can they punish you?".

I stood ready to open the door.

"They can't" she told me "But faking that stuff hurts or upsets me is a lot of work, and no one wants to be pelted by vegetables".

I was surprised as until now she'd never expressed pain or misery. She could fake other stuff, but not that.

"Well you're my serving girl" I told her as I opened the door "No one gets to punish you other than me".

I had a sadist streak at times, but I had no desire to witness Cameron in a stockage. Well okay that wasn't totally true, it could be kinda of hot if it was in private. Not that one would hold her.

"That wouldn't be a punishment" Cameron said "I like it when you do stuff to me".

Apparently her latest software update had turned her into a kinky little cybernetic killing machine. What fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 2**

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

One moment I was in Camelot's castle, the next I was inside my Cosmic Warehouse, yet even though this dimension was outside of reality, and seemed to run by rules different that the existences I was used to, there was no sense of disconnection. Somehow the warehouse didn't feel as if it was outside of reality, and there was odd feeling as I entered the place from the outside.

I imagined that the warehouses of other Jumpers were somewhat of a mess even with robots to tend to it. That sort of thing was to be expected when you filled any space, even one as large as this, with the sheer amount of stuff it was possible to loot from several universes.

Of course they wouldn't have Seven of Nine's powers of organisation. With her skills she'd ensured that the available space was used more efficiently than I ever could have imagined. Everything had its optimised location within the warehouse, and most of what was in here was carefully boxed away.

Okay so nearly everything was optimised, there were some objects that were free of any confinement and lacking in a proper place. A few data padds had been left lying around from when I'd been researching this Jump as best I could.

Some of the weapons weren't on shelves, rather they were mounted on the walls which helped to save space. Mostly rifles of different of different kinds, but there some melee weapons as well. I liked the collect them, some people had posters on their walls, me I enough firepower on display to fight a small war, and I knew that to be literally true.

It also helped that the most valuable thing within the warehouse was not a physical object, and such it didn't require much space, rather many of these containers held true power, in the form of knowledge. The priceless information was kept on Prothean data discs and Borg storage modules, each of which could contain enough knowledge on a subject to keep even someone who was already expert in that subject a lifetime to understand.

There was enough raw information in the boxes that were all around me to found a whole empire on, and perhaps one day they would be put to that use. After all I had more than a little practical experience in such endeavours.

Setting up the Confederation had taught me that I had the skill and the vision to create a civilization that spans the stars, and as such I knew that bringing this world to heel would be a simple matter, but that wasn't a concern as I hadn't come to this world to conquer.

Although that didn't mean I wouldn't make myself emperor of this world, or at least some part of it, at some point later on. I had ten years to spend on a new world, that was plenty of time, I could afford to relax for a while. Perhaps I would do nothing important at all for the next decade. Maybe I would explore this world, and conquer a magical kingdom in some future Jump.

That was the best part of getting on this crazy ride that was Jump Chain, as long as you didn't get yourself killed, and sent home, you could try new things. You could blend in if you wished and not rock the boat too much, or you could be an outside force for major change. For now I had no plans to rock any boats in this Jump as I wanted to keep things simple for a while. I'd had enough of my actions deciding the fates of whole worlds.

I passed by the stasis booths, which contained all of my companions, they'd decided not to spend a decade in a world of swords and sorcery, despite how awesome it could be. But it wasn't that surprising, they were all used to worlds were science ruled, so even with magic this world must seem very dull to them. Or maybe they'd just not wanted to have to deal with a world that was without proper hygiene facilities.

With my bare hand I wiped away some of the condensation that had already gathered on one of the pods and that allowed me to see the person inside. Which was Miranda Lawson, she looked very peaceful, almost too peaceful, but I knew that she was still alive. This bit of technology, which I had built using the combined knowledge of the Protheans and the Ancients, could keep her safely contained for the next fifty thousand years if needs be.

I moved on knowing that I needed to set things up so that this Jump would be as safe for me as possible. It would be super embarrassing to have survived encountering so many hostile aliens, and to have fought in so many space battles, to have lived through entire wars, only to die at the hands of some primitive armed with nothing more than a sharp piece of steel.

"The runabout is back" I noticed.

Cameron and I spent a few moments just looking at the small space craft.

"Didn't you crash it?" Cameron asked.

I thought this for a moment, then it clicked.

"Jump Fiat" I then remembered "I got the runabout with CP, so it must reset or something if it gets broken, at the start of the Jump. Like how you have software updates".

The rules of Jump Chain were well known to me, however not all of them had a very clear meaning, and as such they could still surprise me.

"Well then we can check out the Runabout" I was now saying to Cameron.

Cameron and I quickly got inside the Runabout. When we did I saw that it had returned to me in the same condition it had been when I'd crashed it. This included the upgrades members of my group had worked so hard to install. Jump Chan had really done a good job in setting all this up. Although it had been returned me to at a time when I couldn't use it. Which I'm sure amused Jump Chan somewhat.

While no FTL drive would work in this reality, there were rules to prevent it, this hardly mattered to me as I didn't want to leave the planet anyway. What did matter was that space dock was locked down during this Jump as the only transport I could take out of the vehicle bay was the MAKO. While having a well armed and decently armoured tank in a medieval setting was nice, I had plans for something better.

It would have been great if I could have stuck a ship in orbit, one kept under Cortana's control for the rest of the Jump, so that she could keep an eye on me and beam me out should I seem to be in danger. Also I could have beamed up when ever I wished to and checked out things from above when the mood suited me.

Alas the rules prevented that, and while I could cloak my Mass Effect style armoured transport and install a transporter in it, even if I parked it somewhere in the woods that surrounded most of Camelot, someone would sooner or later bump into it. However having the tank would be handy for quick getaway as while I was on an island, there was plenty of wilderness I could go hide in.

I had a more long term idea for a quick exit. While I couldn't use any kind of space ship I should be okay with a sailing vessel. One small enough to be towed to the sea by my MAKO. Then I could sail it out to the middle of the ocean and drop anchor. Ships didn't cross the Atlantic in this time period, so I didn't have to worry about anyone crashing into the boat.

Which sounded a lot simpler than it actually would be. Building the boat wasn't the trouble. I'd moved the spacecraft that had been here into the docking bays of the Aurora-class that was in the locked up Space Dock sometime ago, so I had the room required even with the returned runabout.

No the tricky part would be driving to the sea. While my MAKO could make it over a range of rough terrain this was a land filled with dense woods, which would not be easy to navigate while towing a yacht. As such I'd have to do plan a route in advance.

Which I could do using cloaked drones. They'd been created for scouting out worlds connected to get via a Stargate, but they should just as easily be able to map the wilderness of Albion.

Once the yacht and its robot attendants were in place, and under Cortana's control, she'd have somewhere to beam me to in an emergency. Then I would just have get something into orbit above Camelot so that she could have a bird's eye of the place.

Which shouldn't be too hard even without any transport that could reach orbit as I should simply be able to beam a small satellite into orbit. This would also allow Cortana to detect things such as marching armies and to know if bad weather was on its way.

But that could wait. It would be better to work on the boat at night, when I could be fairly sure that no one would attempt to enter my quarters. Right not I just needed to make sure that the MAKO was ready to leave at short notice and then I should get ready for practice.

(Line Break)

 **Hideout. Albion.**

Nimueh was a High Priestess of the Old Religion, and as such sensitive to magic and the world in ways that others could never hope to be, and she had sensed something, there was a change coming, she'd known about that, but there something else, something her powers of foretelling hadn't warned her about.

The magic user began using a special crystal in an attempt to scry, to see what this change was, and as she moved through her cave that was her home, she lamented on how she was forced to live. It hadn't always been this way. Once she'd been able to live openly.

For more years than she cared to admit she'd been feared and respected as a High Priestess, then things had changed. Uther, desiring a son and heir, had realised that Ygraine was incapable of providing one. So he had asked Gaius to approach Nimueh with a request that she use her powers over life and death to help his wife get pregnant.

She did so, and as a result Arthur was born. However a life had to be taken to restore the balance of the world in accordance with the laws of the Old Religion, and because of that Ygraine died in childbirth. Uther blamed magic in general and Nimueh in particular for her death. He began the Great Purge, killing many users of magic, and driving the surviving practitioners out of Camelot. Nimueh was banished from the court, and vowed revenge for the death of all her friends.

Soon she would her revenge, the time was coming, but before she could take any action against Uther she had to be sure that she was sensing was not threat to her. If it was then she'd have to deal with the thing or person she sensed, but it might be a threat, this could be an opportunity.

(Line Break)

 **Training Grounds. Camelot.**

The clanging of swords rang out across the training grounds as I watched Prince Arthur cross blades with a young man who went by the name of Sir Owain, my real memories of this time and place informed me that he died in the show when facing an undead creature. My fake memories covered training sessions with him, and a few dull patrols. He wasn't at all an interesting person.

Since I knew he was going to die sometime this season, assuming events played out the same. I wasn't going to bother getting to know him any better. Actually I didn't intend to get know anyone at all really as currently I fancied spending some time alone.

For so long I'd been rushing from one place to another, trying to complete objectives, gather resources, obtain information and dealing with issues, that I so rarely took the time to simply live my life. To stop and smell the roses so to speak. Not that I'd wasted my time, I'd achieved a lot. It was just that I'd saved whole worlds, and races. I'd built and destroyed, and fought for so long that I needed to stop and take stock.

Arthur might be worth getting to know better sometime in the future, but right now I had no desire to get caught up in major events. One of the main reasons for choosing this Jump was to avoid having to decide the fates of others. Hopefully this realm would allow that.

Since I was suppose to be training I went through the motions. Banging my sword against a practice dummy, going for the weak parts were the different bits of armour met. My training told me that in combat that I should strike at these parts in battle, but the rules of combat in training, duelling and in tournaments were different.

I now had quite a bit of information about knights in my head. Which made me glad I'd never made use of the Ancient Repository of Knowledge, because I was going to need some more space in my head for this and future Jumps.

The duties of a knight mostly involved two things, combat and serving the lords, and the noble ladies. I was sworn to serve King Uther, Prince Arthur and the knights that outranked me, which were a few because in the hierarchy of the Knights of Camelot I was somewhere in the middle.

Of course that also meant that there were a lot of people I could boss around. Pretty much anyone who wasn't higher up on me had to do as I told them and with my Authority Perk as long as those commands were reasonable people would do as I told them to. Which could be fun if my new status was managed correctly.

My new knowledge told me that knighthood training began in earnest as a Page. Even as small children the boys of noble families played games and took part in sports that were geared towards learning skills related to horsemanship, the sword, battle axe, mace, dagger and lance.

Obviously these dangerous weapons were not used by these young boys, they played with sticks for the most part, or wooden replicas of real weapons if they could be trusted with them, and while they were educated in other areas, such as reading, writing, history and even some maths, great emphasis was placed on physical fitness and strength. Which made me glad I'd not actually had to endure that as I'd never been any good when it came to PE class.

A Page, who was a noble in training to become a knight, would start to acquire the skills required of a knight in many different ways. One of this was by learning to tilt the lance. A target was erected and the Page would mount a wooden 'horse' on wheels holding a lance. The wooden horse would be pulled along by two other pages towards the target and the page would aim the lance. I had memories of this and despite the lack of any real emotional connection to the people and places within the memories I still found that part of my training to be rather amusing.

Sword play was practised quite a long, which was to be expected as knights used the sword far more than any other weapon. Pages would train using wooden swords and shields. Fighting on piggyback introduced the young knights to the balance and skills required in mounted combat.

Knighthood training in other physical skills included climbing, swimming, throwing stones, javelins, archery and wrestling. All of which I had vague memories of, but nothing important ever seemed to have happened during those many training sessions. Impressions I had of my training led to me to understand that I'd been an average student in all aspects, never worthy of note, but never a disappointment either.

The knighthood training of both the pages and the squires of the Middle Ages continued with acquiring excellent equestrian skills. This was because the horse played an extremely important part in the life of a knight. Not only for battle, but also for tourneys, which knights would enter in order to obtain glory and fame. A knight without a horse was not considered to be a real knight.

Apprentice knights would learn how to ride and control their horses so that could ride into battle without getting thrown from their steeds. The knights in training would start with small ponies, then move onto bigger animals as they grew up and their training progress. I recalled that the pages and squires were also expected to play their part of caring for the horses in the stables.

After leaving pagehood behind and becoming squires, knighthood training became far more dangerous. Injuries were a common occurrence, not limited to bumps and bruises, bones could be broken. My new fake childhood made my real childhood seem very safe and sheltered by comparison. Sure I'd been in fights, but not one had swung a sword at me. Well not a steel one.

Even just fighting with quarterstaffs could result in injuries. Fighting with swords and other weapons had to be strictly supervised and only wooden, blunt or covered weapons were used even by the older students. This was important because while people in this time knew how to set bones, they didn't understand how infections worked so any battle injury could kill a man.

Aside from training with many kinds of weapons, skills with the lance had to be perfected. One of the tools used in the practice of the lance was called called the quintain. The quintain consisted of a shield and dummy which was suspended from a swinging pole. When the shield was hit by a charging squire, the whole apparatus would rotate. The squire's task was to avoid the rotating arms and not get knocked from his saddle. A variation of the quintain added heavy swinging sandbags which also had to be avoided.

Since accuracy was also an important factor, squires practised what was called "Running at the Rings" where the lance was aimed at a target in the shape of a ring. Which I knew form my new memories was a lot harder than people might imagine. Riding on horseback wasn't easy, it was bumpy and uncomfortable. Which made aiming rather tricky.

Since siege warfare was a somewhat common occurrence during the Middle Ages, my training had also included learning about the tactics and weapons used in siege warfare. Siege warfare during the Middle Ages was conducted according to Chivalric Rules, and a truce or settlement would always be attempted as castles were expensive. It was better to capture one as intact as possible.

Knights would be expected to understand the options available when defending a castle, its layout, tunnels and its defences. A young squire, or even a page, would be expected to defend a castle with his life during a siege. These sieges were long affairs, often starvation was the cause of defeat rather than an invading army.

Methods of attacking a castle were studied by young knight. This would include learning about siege weapons, which were the trebuchet, the ballista, the mangonel, the battering ram and siege towers. Some of this did require skills with maths, for the calculation of angles. Skills in climbing were important, as a knight might be required to scale a castle walls.

During his long period of training a squire or page must also show bravery and the ability to withstand extremes in cold and heat, tiredness and hunger. Yet it was not all hard work. The apprentice knights also enjoyed attending tournaments, which were great fun for these people as they hadn't yet invented many forms of entertainment that didn't involve people hitting each other,

While it was the duty of a knight to learn how to fight, they also had to know how to serve their liege Lord according to the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry dictated that a knight should be brave and fearless in battle, and that he should exhibit other traits, such as loyalty, courteousness and generosity.

A knight's code required them to serve the liege lord in valour and faith, to protect the weak and defenceless, to give succour to widows and orphans, to refrain from the wanton giving of offence, which I assumed meant not to be rude to people, to live by honour and for glory, to fight for the welfare of all, to obey those placed in authority, to guard the honour of fellow knights, to eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit, to respect the honour of women and never to refuse a challenge.

There was more of course, the code grew and changed over time, and it was hard to remember all of it, however I would could just follow the examples of other knights to know how to behave. Or I recall more of the facts when I needed to. Sometimes that was how it worked for me,

Of course living up to that code was a lot easier in theory than in practice, and the code become problematic at times as if your lord ordered you to do something unhonorable, you either had to disobey, would could get you hanged, or violate the code, which I could imagine would eat away a truly honourable man.

If asked to violate the code I would just have to cross that bridge when I came to it, which I would sooner or later, and all I could do then was chose the course of action I thought was best.

"Sir Gothic!" a voice called out.

I turned to see that Prince Arthur was addressing me.

"Yes, your highness" was my reply.

"You're turn to face me" he said.

The young prince was holding a sword and a shield. By the looks of things it was time to trade blows with the future knight. Hopefully I wouldn't make a total fool of myself.

(Line Break)

 **Battlements. Camelot.**

After training I found myself with some time on my hands, so I decided to go and do something relaxing. Because this was a world lacking in television I had to make my own fun. Sure I had more modern entertainments within the Cosmic Warehouse, but it was risky to spend too much time in there, as the place could be discovered. I recalled several events in the show that led to the whole castle being searched at different hours, and I didn't want anyone barging into my room, and discovering the Cosmic Warehouse.

On a whim I'd quickly thrown to together a small kite, which was diamond shaped, and made from materials you could get locally. It was just some cloth, a few bits of wood, and some string. Yet it was remarkably amusing consider the simplicity of it. Many people stopped to look at what I was doing.

"What is that?" someone asked.

I turned my head to see the Lady Morgana and her handmaiden Guinevere, who for some reason was greatly desired by many of the male characters in this show, but I didn't see the attraction. Sure she was kind, somewhat intelligent and somewhat good looking I guessed, but she didn't do it for me.

Morgana was officially the King's ward having been taken into his care after her father died in battle. In truth she was the king's illegitimate daughter and therefore Arthur's half-sister, which made her a contender to the throne. I did think that she was bit of a hottie, but I would never admit that outloud.

History would remember her as Morgan Le Fey (not to be confused with the Ascended Ancient) an enemy of Camelot and she was also a magic user. Not that she knew this yet, and it would be better if she never found out. Right now she was sweet young woman, you cared deeply for others, and had lots of bad dreams. But if fate played out the way it should then she'd end up a major villain.

She'd become a woman filled with hate, and dark magic. She was very attractive, however since I had no desire to unrage Uther I wasn't going to mention that to anyone. As overprotective father's go Uther ranked rather highly, and he an army so best not to upset him.

"It's called a kite my lady" I said, answering the question "A toy really, you run and throw it so that the wind catches it. If you do it right it will stay up in the air until you reel it in".

Sometimes it was better to show than tell so I gave her the string to hold, and instructed her on how to fly a kite. Not that there was much to it. The ease of which it could be flow was partly why it was so entertaining.

I watched her ladyship have fun and her innocence was surprising because my clearest memories of this women were her as the big bad in later seasons of the show.

"Where did you this from?" Morgana asked.

While I couldn't tell the whole truth the Knight's code forbid me from outright lying, although I was sure that it was okay to lie to protect others all while carrying some duty. By that logic It should be okay for me to lie to protect myself. But really there was no need to lie as long as I didn't admit everything.

"They were invented in some distant land" I told her ladyship "And I first saw them flying about when I was a child. I don't remember where or when that was, but I recall watching them for a long time".

Which was all true. Like gunpowder, which I didn't have any desire to introduce, kites came from China, and when I was kid I did spend time watching kites fly.

When Morgana tried to return the kite I insisted that she keep it, making it a gift, and while at first she refused, she did take the kite, and I used one of my near-ascended powers to make Morgana and her maid feel pleasure. It ran through their bodies, not in a sexual way, it should feel more like they lowered themselves into a warm bath after a long day.

While this wasn't the most noble of things to do I figured that it wouldn't hurt in the long run if Morgana felt positively towards me, and felt pleasure when I around, as that would make her want to spend time with me, and I could use that to keep an eye on her. But I didn't need to worry about her right now as she still one of the good people, and Merlin had not yet arrived so everything was peaceful.

Alas that wouldn't last.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reviews**

 **skelly4128**

Crop rotation already existed in medieval times, but if I remember my history it wasn't fully developed until the late middle ages so Jumper Gothic should be able to drop a few hints to the farmers. Maybe they'll listen.

Keeping better records could also be useful, but I think such ideas would be better received by Arthur who can be befriend, rather than Uther, and Arthur won't be king until the 3rd season. Then he can suggest a number of things. Better sewage system for starters.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 3**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Underground, below the castle, something stirred, it was Kilgharrah, better known as The Great Dragon. He was a mighty and ancient dragon who's been imprisoned and chained in a cave beneath Camelot by Uther Pendragon at the end of the Great Purge, and here he had been left for over 20 years.

For much of his captivity Kilgharrah had done nothing other than sleep. Now he was stirring, something he had sensed was getting his attention. The Great Dragon had been expecting someone important to arrive soon, but what he was feeling was not the the warlock who would soon arrive, rather than this was something else, something alien.

Still despite the oddness of this presence Kilgharrah was a creature of great power, and had mystical abilities that could only be matched by the most powerful of magic users, and with his awesome talents he was able to learn at least some of the nature, as well as the name, of the strange presence he felt.

Kilgharrah wanted to find out more, much more, however he happened to be chained up and therefore stuck down here, so whomever he was sensing out there would have to come to him. The magical creature would call out with his mind to this newcomer and draw him underground.

The Great Dragon would wait, he could still sense much of what was going on above, which told him that the castle was active, but night would come and then he could call out. Only those most sensitive to magic would hear his call, thus ensuring only that the stranger, who was sensitive to magic, would hear him.

If this alien stranger turned out to be a threat to the future Kilgharrah wished to bring about then the Great Dragon would destroy him, which he could do if the newcomer was lured close enough. Kilgharrah might be chained up, however he could still breathe fear fire if needs be.

Hopefully the alien stranger would heed his call, and there was a chance that this unknown person could be a friend and ally to creatures of magic. Kilgharrah could sense that the newcomer had magical power as well as abilities unknown to even him.

Either way soon the matter would be dealt with, and until nightfall all the Great Dragon could do was rest, while planning out what he might say. Also should he need to destroy this stranger he would need all of his strength, as such a little more sleep wouldn't hurt.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

While it was only my second day within this swords and sorcery setting, so far I was enjoying myself and things seemed to be going well. Everyone accepted my background, and while during training I'd exposed myself as a better than average knight, my sudden improvement wasn't drawing much suspicion. This was helped by Arthur, who'd claimed that sparring against him was what had allowed me to show my true talent.

Aside from training I didn't really have that much to do. As a minor noble I owned some land as all knights in Camelot did, but the very small part of the kingdom that was mine was wilderness and as such I had no tenants to care for. I could be sent out on patrol, or on a mission, but things were peaceful right now.

That wouldn't last of course. This time period was filled with many dangers, which came from more than just magic users. Magical creatures, such as griffons, cockatrices and even dragons, as well as bandits and other kinds of raiders would endanger this realm. Greater dangers of the human sort were to come as well.

At the beginning of the fifth century, the Romans left Britain for the final time, an event which seemed to have happened some decades ago in this version of Albion, the records weren't clear. Their withdrawal caused a lot of chaos, and it allowed the locals to carve Albion into kingdoms which warred with each other, and this left them vulnerable to outsiders.

Later in the century, the Saxons tried to invade Britain and they succeeded. In the Merlin show the Saxons invaded and allied themselves with Morgana. They were tribes that came not just to raid, but to take England's green and pleasant lands for themselves.

Which fitted in with the legends, as in them the Saxons were known as enemies of King Arthur and invaded Britain. The white dragon also stood for the Saxons, while the red dragon (which was on the Welsh flag) stood against the invasion, and presumably for Camelot. In the show Morgana's dragon was white and the red dragon was Kilgharrah, who wasn't actually red, came to the battle for Camelot.

This meant that the people who lived in these lands right now were Celts, Celtic Britons to be precise, my ancestors in a sense, and this was confirmed by many of the traditions in this kingdom, which I knew about. These were falling out of favour as Christianity took its hold in these lands.

As of yet there were no Churches, or any kind of temple for that matter, within the walls of Camelot. I knew that at this time people were divided between the Old Religion, which was as a form of Paganism, and the New Religion, which was an early form of Christianity.

In the legends Arthur's religion varies. Some retellings describe King Arthur as a pagan king, other versions had him as a Christian, who may have been very tolerant towards differing religions as Merlin is often referred to as being a druid. Given the time period it was likely that Arthur would also have both pagans and Christians as his subjects, and in his army.

This kingdom seemed between the old and the new. Yet as far as I could tell this wasn't causing any trouble. Uther might hate magic, but he wasn't forcing people to give up everything to do with the old ways even if he a distaste for pagan beliefs. It was hard for people in these parts to forget about pagan beliefs totally because magic was a real thing, and stuff like dragons actually existed.

While Cameron dusted my chambers, still playing the role of humble serving girl, I was reading through a book called the Chronicles of Beltane. Which I'd gotten from Geoffrey of Monmouth who was the court genealogist and keeper of the royal library here in Camelot.

He'd been happy to lend me the book, more than likely a little shocked that one of the knights would bother to read, and since it was a record of adventures undertaken by possibly fictional knights, it would not seem odd that I had an interest in such things. I was sure that once Monmouth got used to the sight of me in his library he wouldn't mind me taking out books on a variety of subjects.

I desired to better understand this kingdom and how it differed from what history I had been taught about this time period. Legend wasn't just true here, it was happening all around me, I was living it, so understanding more about other fables was important as they might actually have happened.

Also this text mention a sword just like mine. I wished to know more about this kind of weapon because while the setup for this Jump had told me that this sword could kill anything up to a minor god I really didn't know much more about it other than it seemed to enhance the fighting skills of its wielder.

Which might explain in part why my fighting skills had proven to be superior to what I'd expected. I hadn't used the sword while training these last two days, the Knights trained everyday when possible, but perhaps simply owning the blade was enough. No source of information I had about the dragon forged blades were clear on what exactly they could do.

However I knew that the weapon did not guarantee victory against superior swordsmen, as during Arthur's second liberation of Camelot, he was overpowered by a man called Helios during their duel, although it should be noted that Arthur had been injured and was not at his fighting peak. The Prince had also disarmed me during practice, before I'd been to start holding my own.

Hopefully I would learn more about the sword in time, but I did know its name, which was Caliburn. This was odd because Caliburn was an early name for Excalibur, perhaps it had been called this because it had been created before Arthur's sword. Or maybe the legends were wrong and Caliburn was a different magical weapon.

Whatever its origins the sword was powerful, perhaps too powerful, if it fell into the wrong hands no one other than the greatest gods of this world, assuming there were any, would be safe. Because of this I would keep the blade close by always.

The weapon was also too powerful given that it was just a sword some dragon had breathed fire on. Sure dragons were mighty creatures, with great magical powers and their fire clearly had special properties, but I didn't understand how that fire could turn a mortal weapon into something so dangerous.

"The Great Sword begotten in the dragon's breath" I muttered to myself once I'd finished that page.

Reading that passage had not helped at all. The book was full of deeds of knights, monsters they'd slain, maidens they'd saved as well as other brave, and possibly fictional achievements, but it was very much lacking in useful information.

With my omni-tool, which I kept hidden from view, I scanned each page from the book one I'd read it as even a little information could be useful. Cortana didn't really have emotions, at least not in the way a human being did, but she did seem to have a desire for knowledge, which had led to me having to upgrade the devices memory capacity a few times.

Cortana was annoyed (and this made me think that she really did have feeling on of some sort) by the lack of information we had about this setting. While uploading information this way was slow my personal AI didn't suffer from boredom, or if she did she hid it very well and didn't complain about the lack of activity. Besides even if she did she wouldn't have to remain bored for too much longer. The ship, it was a boat really, shouldn't take too long to build even if we could only work at night.

There was knocking at the door.

"Enter" I said.

When I saw that it was Prince Arthur I got up as it would be rude for me to sit when in the same room as a member of the royal family was standing in.

"Highness can I help you with something?" I asked.

I doubted that the matter which had brought him to my chambers was an important one as if it had been it would either be handled by Arthur in private after he had summoned me to his chambers, or if it was something that affected the kingdom then the king would be involved, perhaps the whole of the court.

"Yes" said Arthur "I wish to invite you on a hunt".

None of my new fake memories involved hunting with Arthur, although my memories of knightly training did include hunting skills. Arthur had never paid me much attention until now, nor had invited me to anything. Of course we'd not met until yesterday even if remembered me from before.

My guess was that my recent improvement on the training fields had led to the prince taking note of me, and developing an interest. If he was suspicious of my new skills, at least new for him, then it was unlikely that he'd ask for me to join him in the woods for a hunt were there were few witnesses and plenty of chances for something to go wrong.

More likely this was his way of rewarding and encouraging me. Which made sense as the training of the knights was in responsibility, and as such the more skilled we were the better it reflected upon on Arthur. Who was a vain git. Thankfully he'd mature.

"I'd be delighted to join you" I lied.

Truthfully I had no taste for hunting. I understood that some people needed to hunt for food or to remove threats, that was fine, but stalking and slaying some poor animal for sport had never sat well with me. Still this was a primitive society, so I would have to hunt at some point, and it would rude to refuse the prince without a valid reason for not coming along.

"We'll be leaving early in the morning" the prince told me "Be ready and in the courtyard two hours after dawn".

With that the prince left, and I turned to Cameron.

"I guess I'll need my horse" I said to her.

She nodded.

"Please be careful, Master" she urged "It wouldn't be socially acceptable for me to go on this hunt with you, so I won't be able to protect you while you're away from the castle".

Well I was hardly helpless without her. I'd gotten through the Mass Effect verse while lacking a bodyguard, and I was much more powerful now.

"I'll be careful" I promised her.

While using my powers would be very risky I would if I was in danger as I didn't want this Jump Chain to end. Besides even if I was caught there wasn't much anyone could do if I decided to escape this kingdom. Once the boat was in place and the satellite was in the sky I'd be able to beam away any witnesses and erase their memories of any event thanks to the technology I'd obtained during the last Jump.

"You also need someone to clean out the stable your horse lives in" Cameron told me "Apparently that is a chore I'm not allowed to do on account of looking like a female human".

Apparently in this world you needed a penis in order to use a shovel.

"Find me someone who can take care of the horse" I instructed my cyborg bodyguard "I can pay some boy to keep the horse clean and fed".

On the subject of feeding I was getting hungry.

"Think I'll dine soon" I said as I noticed that it was starting to get dark.

Since candles and fires were the only source of light once the sun went down that meant people weren't so active after dark as they could be in my time. As such it should be safe for me to access the Cosmic Warehouse so I could get the boat finished.

I could launch the satellite first, but without somewhere to teleport to it would only be good for warnings, and right now I wasn't in any danger. That would change once Merlin arrived, of that I was sure, but I wasn't going to stress myself over it just yet. After all a big part of why I'd come here was to relax.

"Yes, Master" said Cameron "And you should go to bed early tonight if you'll be hunting. We can work for a while in the Cosmic Warehouse, then I'll help you relax".

By that of course she meant that she'd be pleasuring me sexually in order to help me get to sleep. Which was always fun.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The hour was late, and while the guards finding me out of my chamber would have been a concern, I didn't have to worry about that as I still had access to phase cloaking technology. Which meant I could sneak around and find out who was telepathically calling to me.

Despite the fact that I was out of phase I could still hear my name, it was a whisper in my mind, human and yet not that foreign. It was the voice of someone or something filled with wisdom and power, without seeming to be threatening in any way.

Since I sensed no danger, and because I was capable of looking after myself, I'd not fetched Cameron before coming down to the lower levels of the castle. Which led to me wondered if there was some sort of magical compulsion involved in the telepathic message.

As I went down some tunnels I figured out who and what was calling me. It had to be Kilgharrah, otherwise known as the Great Dragon. The voice was clearly male, even though had not come from a man, and there was something in the calling of my name, something that told me that the source was ancient. My magical sensitivity Perk must be what was telling me that.

The closer I got to the dragon the more I could sense him, this made sense as Kilgharrah was tremendously powerful. He could very well be the single strongest magical creature in the series, with the possible exceptions of Merlin, who despite being human counted as magical creature.

By now I could hear the rattling of the chains that held the Great Dragon and an increase in warmness which reminded me like all members of his kind, Kilgharrah could breathe fire, usually using this ability as an attack, but on one occasion he used his fire to enhance the power of a weapon forged for Arthur.

If the dragon was calling me down here for a nice chat this was a chance to strike up a friendship with someone who knew a lot about magic, I could seek him out for advice and knowledge from time to time, and he would give it because he didn't really have anything better to do.

Still while I didn't think he'd want to make me an enemy since I was one of the few people he could talk to, that didn't mean he wouldn't be inclined to roast me alive, and since dragon's fire was highly magical it might be able to harm me even when I was out of phase, and even my environmental shield, that came from my life support belt, was unlikely to help.

I really didn't want to find out so I kept my weapon out of my hand. I doubted that it would do much to such a large and powerful creature in any case. Which made me think, and not for the first time, that I should just back, but I had no idea how to block the dragon's voice and he might drive me crazy if he kept calling out my name right into my head.

From what I recalled seeing in the show Kilgharrah also appeared to be immune to the powers of even a powerful sorcerer such as Merlin, not even flinching when Merlin hurled an enchanted spear at him; the weapon simply bounced off his scales, as such I didn't my near-ascended powers would help me much either.

I also recalled the Kilgharrah was very graceful for such a massive creature and he was far more agile than he appeared. He was easily able to evade numerous arrows while attacking Camelot even when they were fired at him by many trained knights.

Additionally he was able to defeat a whole group of knights, including Arthur, when they rode out against him, with very little effort, though Arthur managed to inflict a wound on the Dragon before being knocked unconscious, so he wasn't unkillable. Heavy weapons, which I had, should be able to do some damage.

However Merlin was able to defend himself against dragon flame, and I did know how to use my near-ascended powers to create protective barriers, so I wouldn't be totally helpless when facing the creature.

In addition to being virtually unbeatable in combat, at least when going up against normal humans with primitive weapons, Kilgharrah could not only transmit his thoughts into the minds of others via telepathy he could also impart knowledge, which he used to provide Merlin with a way of defeating Cornelius Sigan, who nothing more than a spirit inhabiting someone else's body and therefore already dead.

Kilgharrah was immune to the powerful sleeping spell that Morgause placed on Camelot. As if that wasn't impressive enough Kilgharrah had healing powers, which he used to save Merlin's life when the warlock was stung by a Serket, which was a kind of giant scorpion.

The Great Dragon was unable to free himself when he was a prisoner of Uther, which meant that his chains must be magical, to be strong enough to hold him and not melt under the heat of dragon's flame. This was yet more evidence of Uther's hypocrisy

However he was able to give Merlin specific instructions on how to free him meaning that Kilgharrah had a great knowledge of all things magical, not just spells, he knew all about enchantments. Not that surprising given his a thousand years of experience.

Aside from all that Kilgharrah was capable of foreseeing the future, he in the show he frequently spoke to Merlin about the destiny he and Arthur shared, as well as foreseeing that Morgana would turn evil and that Mordred would put Arthur in mortal danger.

Yet he was unable to see his own capture and the betrayal of Uther, which suggested that he couldn't see his own fate, and that his ability to predict other people's futures was somewhat flawed. This made sense to me as I knew that the future was not fixed no matter how many visions you had. Seers only ever saw likely futures, and even the best seers didn't get visions much in the way of context.

Despite his many powers, Kilgharrah was, like all dragons, powerless to resist the call of a Dragonlord. He was required to obey all orders he receives from a Dragonlord regardless of his own opinions or desires, although he could still disagree with a Dragonlord's command, which meant his free will couldn't totally be suppressed.

"Welcome stranger" said the dragon.

This time the voice was not in my head, well it was, but it got there via the ears as it was suppose to. However what really got my attention was the fact that I was still out of phase. The Great Dragon could see me, and perhaps even hear me even though I wasn't in the same plane of existence as the dragon.

I could only assume that Kilgharrah had some sort of magical vision, an idea which was supported by the fact that his eyes were somewhere between yellow and gold, as well as faintly glowing, like those of a magic user when they casted spells.

"Hi" I replied.

A rather lame introduction, but it was the best I could do given that I was standing before a magical and massive fire breathing creature. It was fear as much as it was caution, my feet were ready to get running if needs be.

When out of phase the world around me looked a little odd. The colours of my surroundings seemed off somehow. Because of this I came out of phase, and this allowed me to see Kilgharrah in all his glory. He was very impressive, he'd almost rendered me totally speechless, and I was a man who'd seen both the wonders and horrors of several universes.

"I have summoned you here because I have questions" said the Great Dragon.

With my advanced mind it was easy for me to figure out what Kilgharrah wanted to know. The dragon knew as well as I did that events which took place here in the years to come would have a massive impact on everything for centuries to come.

I also knew that the Great Dragon was unlikely to attack me outright, not when we might be of use to each other. I had no intention of freeing the dragon, that was Merlin's business, but the dragon had an agenda of its own, one I might be able to help with.

"You want to know my intentions" I guessed.

The dragon nodded its head, and I'd been around enough non-humans to know that body language wasn't always limited to humanoids, so I knew he was agreeing with what I just said despite the lack of words.

"You are not from this land" stated the dragon "Nor this world I would wager".

Well he wasn't wrong.

"I'm a visitor to your world" I admitted to Kilgharrah.

There was little point lying. I was sure that he'd sense it even if I did lie, and he seemed to have guessed the important stuff already. That shouldn't surprise me as the Great Dragon was more than man or beast, he had powers and wisdom beyond even my own. Which was to be expected since he was a thousands years old if I remembered correctly.

"And why have you chosen this land to visit?" I was asked.

I decided to tell the truth, not the whole truth as even this wise creature would have trouble understanding it all, in fact I didn't understand it all myself, but the Great Dragon got the jist of things. I'd been sent here by a powerful entity, one that could destroy both of us with ease, for its amusement and that I hadn't been sent to interfere with what fate had planned, rather I was here to play a role.

"Very well" said the Great Dragon "If you intend no harm then I will not make you an enemy, but I warn you stranger that the events that will unfold in the years to come have a power of their own, you may find yourself swept up in the currents of history".

That was a danger, but I had perks that helped me deal with fate. I wasn't bound by it, and I could defy history if I so chose, I'd proven that in past Jumps. I'd gotten Voyager home a couple of years sooner than expected, and I'd majorly derailed what should have happened in the Stargate verse, more than once actually, and in more than few alternate realities.

Still that didn't mean I had any intentions of derailing the plot of this story, but I got the sense that the events to come were somewhat flexible even if the overall story was not. Arthur must become king and unite the realm, but when that happened and how were flexible.

"I give you my word that I won't harm Arthur" I promised the dragon.

That seemed to appease Kilgharrah, at least for now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 4**

 **Darkling Woods. Albion.**

While we weren't that far from the castle, in fact it was visible from here, these woods were known to be used for secret meetings and criminal activities, and while they were patrolled the foliage was very dense in many places meaning that even an experienced tracker could pass within half a dozen meters of someone they were hunting and never see anything.

Right now there wouldn't be any secret meetings as it was a bright, sunny day, and there were lots of Camelot guards going about making a lot of noise, as were some other people. The people making most of the noise were the beaters, who were not to be confused with beaters in the quidditch game

These beaters were a well organised team of men that had the responsibility of driving the animals out into the open so that we could shoot them crossbows. Which didn't seem very sporting to me, but this was a time of savagery for mankind despite how cultured some people could be.

I knew that by walking in formation and spreading out a certain amount, beaters could successfully flush game in a specific direction. I also knew that any team of beaters would be led by the keeper, again not to be confused with Quidditch player, who was a man that knew the the area exceptionally well.

In order to drive the game in the desired route, beaters made noise by clapping loudly, using their voices, or by cracking sticks on nearby objects. Experienced beaters, such as those here today, had trained dogs with them and these dogs will be tightly controlled so that could guide the humans to where there was prey, but they didn't go chasing after anything unless command to.

Thinking about all that made me realise that this sport had dogs that would chase prey, beaters with sticks, and a keepe. Had JK Rowling at least part based the sport of Quidditch on medieval hunting? Quidditch did seem to be barbaric and pointless, much like hunting. More likely I was just over thinking things again.

"That's an impressive sword" I heard the prince say "Yet I don't recall you ever using it".

While I could have left my dragon forged sword in the Cosmic Warehouse were it would be safe, there seemed little point to having such a potent weapon and not keeping it close for when I needed it, and it was not a matter of if, it was when. At some point during my decade in this world I would be attacked by someone or something that couldn't be killed by mortal weapons or even near-ascended powers.

As such it seemed wise to keep it close. However since it could kill what normal steel couldn't, someone might notice its special properties if I used it too often. So I carried a more normal sword as well, one that would work fine against man and beast of the mortal kind.

"It was a gift of sorts" I told the prince "It was made for me to be used only by me, and against worthy foes".

Arthur seemed to accept that explanation.

"So you always carry two swords" he said.

I just nodded, and then lifted my crossbow as the dogs began to bark frantically. Something was coming right at us, which was strange given that we were a large group of people with lots of weapons, and we had dogs. Yet despite this a wild boar was running right at us. It was must have been driven into a frenzy by all the noise.

My training took over and I lifted my crossbow even as other people dived for cover. I was about to fire, only Prince Arthur got their first. The rampaging animal dropped and skidded to a halt mere few meters away from me.

"A successful hunt!" the prince called out.

Apparently that was it. Yet it to me it seemed like a waste, lot of effort and noise all for one dead animal. I didn't find that at all satisfying.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

After a morning spent hunting, and an afternoon spent training my muscles ached, and while my Evercleansed Perk kept me clean and stopped me from stinking up the place every time I got sweaty, it was still better to clean myself at times because while I might always look shower fresh I didn't feel it it all time.

Besides while the perk wasn't much of an issue when you had access to the superior hygiene products and facilities of the future, in a swords and sorcery setting it would seem odd for to be so clean all the time and never be known to bathe.

Although I had noticed that the people in Camelot looked more clean and healthy than one would expect, so either people did have better hygiene in this day and age than I'd been led to believe, or this wasn't actually my world in the past . Judging by the show this was a more romanticized version of medieval England.

Not that it really mattered to me. It wasn't as if I could forward to check as while I actually had a time machine, I'd pinched Janus's time travelling puddle jumper from an alternate universe, that was locked up in the space dock, which was good as it didn't do to leave time machines lying around.

"Your bath is ready" Cameron told me.

I began to strip off behind the screen, because that was what the thing existed for rather than because of any shyness. There wouldn't be much point living in this setting if I didn't at least try to act like I belonged here, at least for as long as it amused me.

When I stepped out from behind the screen, while wearing only what passed for a towel in this world, I saw that Cameron was standing by the tub while totally naked, and holding a washing cloth.

"Not that I mind" I said to her "But why did you undress?".

"I'm going to wash you" she told em "And I don't want to get my clothes wet".

Okay well that made sense, and while she was practical about the whole thing I couldn't help finding her behavior to be arousing, which soon became noticeable, and Cameron didn't pay that part of me any attention as I got into the bath.

My Terminator began washing me right away, cleaning me carefully while always making sure that her actions were gentle. It took her awhile, too long really, but she began to clean the part of me I wanted to touch, and she made it enjoyable.

"Time to help deal with you stress" she declared.

Which was her way of saying that we would soon be engaging in some sort of sexual activity. For her sex was about helping to keep my stress levels low by helping to relax.

"How? By giving me a handjob?" I asked

Cameron shook her head

"No, not with a handjob" she said as she leaned over the rim of the tub.

I watched with almost detached fascination as her head came down towards my waiting erection, her mouth slowly opening as she moved her body into a position that would allow to perform oral on me. It couldn't have been comfortable the way she was leaning, but this didn't stop her.

The detached feeling vanished as soon as her lips touched the tip of my penis. As soon as that happened I groaned as her hot, wet mouth engulfed my manhood, her lips sliding down the length of man meat. Her head continued to descend until her chin and nose were underwater, which wasn't an issue for her as she didn't need to breath.

She then began moving her head in a slow and steady pace, and she kept this up for a few minutes before her head started coming back up, revealing my cock, which I was not too proud to admit was also enhanced. Although not as much as it could have been.

After a moment the tip of my dick came out of her mouth with a small popping sound. At this point a human woman would be panting for air, but Cameron only looked me in the eyes for a second or to, and then kissed the tip of my cock, with a surprising amount of tenderness.

Not for the first time I noted while she'd always been devoted to me, and she'd always worked hard at pleasuring me, she'd never been this affectionate until now. It seemed that her latest software update had changed her personality, perhaps to better her play the role of servant, as well as bodyguard. She was also designed to learn how to better mimic human behaviour, that combined with the recent software update explained her changing personality.

After some more tender kissing she tilted her head. Then she started kissing and licking her way up, down and around the length of my erection. After doing this for a some time, I had no way of knowing how long it actually was, she began to get serious about making me climax with her mouth.

While her mouth and right hand were now occupied with my hardon, her left hand was fondling my balls. She'd had a lot of practice doing this over the years and as such she knew exactly how much pressure to use, and what kind of fondling would get the best results. It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover the she had hundreds of megabytes worth of data stored in her memory banks that contain nothing more than ways to make me happy through sex.

I moaned a few times as Cameron pleasured me, and I watched as her head bobbed up and down, she was now hiding my cock in her mouth only to revel it again a moment later. Her pace was increasing and her every action was designed to get me cum. Not doubt she'd sensed that the bath water was already getting cold and that I would need to finish before it cooled.

She let me cum in her mouth and barely reacted to it. Once she was sure that I was done Cameron released my cock, before getting onto her knees. She then opened her mouth wide, showing me the baby batter which she had collected her mouth.

Next she closed her mouth, made a visible show of swallowing, then opened it again to reveal that my cum had disappeared. For a moment she seemed more like a pet seeking her owners approval than she did a cyborg killing machine with the appearance of Summer Glau.

"I hope that I pleased you Master" she then said.

"You did" I told her.

She then stood up, she wasn't at all shy about her body and if I'd not just orgasmed I'd be aroused again because of how close she was to me.

"Once you're done with your bath I'll fetch you some supper" Cameron was now saying "Then we can spend some time in Cosmic Warehouse. It will easier for me to do my job if you can be beamed to safety when I'm not around".

Given that her existence revolved around keeping me safe more than anything else, she must not be happy about me going off without her so much, or at least as unhappy as an AI could be. Alas women in this time period simply weren't allowed to do certain things. I knew that the Lady Morgana had gone off hunting and that she'd learned how to use a sword, but she was the king's daughter and could do things other women couldn't.

For the men it was certainly good that Cameron wasn't allow me to b a knight as she'd show them all up, and then be declared a witch because to the people of this kingdom her abilities would seem magical. Not that hunting her would go well for the locals.

"Yes we should get that boat done ASAP" I agreed "I'll also feel better if we have an escape route planned out".

Even if we did nothing to blow our cover it was possible that the castle would be overrun by some enemy like it was a couple of times in the show. I didn't want to end up in a cell, not that I couldn't escape, it would just be annoying to get locked up.

(Line Break)

 **Hideout. Albion.**

The sorceress Nimueh waved her hand over the scrying pool and tried in vain to regain the picture she had just lost. Everything had been fine a few moments, she'd had a clear picture, and it had been a very interesting view. She wasn't normally one for spying of that kind, but she'd indulged herself.

Now she'd lost the image just as the man she'd been spying on. She didn't get sound so she'd been hoping to see something that would help her understand who this newcomer was. So far he seemed normal aside from the fact that he could disappear from her scrying pool.

She'd sensed his sudden arrival in this land, but oddly no one else seemed to have, at least as far as she could tell. From what she'd seen so far everyone else treated him as if he was exactly what he appeared to be. Yet Nimueh was certain that the stranger had only arrived in this land a mere two days ago.

His arrival had been totally unforseen by her, and that combined with his ability to defeat her scrying told Nimueh that she was dealing with something she had never encountered before. That combined with his minor magical ability, which she could sense, made him a possible threat.

However also saw a potential ally. After all this man was a practitioner of magic living in the heart of Camelot. Somehow he'd even become a knight, or had somehow fooled everyone into thinking he was a knight, either way he was trusted by Uther and a prime position to betray the king.

Nimueh might be able to use this sorcerer as weapon against Uther, as even the most honourable of knights were simply men, and she ways of bringing men around to her way of thinking. But before she approached this man she wanted to learn more about him, and that meant observing him some more.

Maybe he'd take another bath. She wouldn't mind that.

(Line Break)

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

While the robots and Cameron finish putting together the boat I worked on the small satellite that would soon be beamed into orbit. I was using the same space as the machine labourers and my terminator as this was where all the tools were kept. Thankfully it was a large space so we all able to give each other enough room to work.

The satellite I was working on was little more than a thruster, some communications equipment, a few different types of scanners, and a metal shell which would be protected by a kinetic barrier incase of space debris. So it wasn't that big of a device or that complex, but it should do its job.

Its purpose was to give Cortana, who would control the boat my bots were building, a way of tracking me from orbit without the use of a spacecraft. It would also do some mapping for me, which would be useful as I'd checked out some maps in the library and they didn't help to understand where exactly I was. The geography didn't line up with anything I knew, and it was hard to understand the scale of the maps as they were so crude.

However once this probe was up somewhere high I'd be able to get the lay of the land so to speak. Also I'd be able to access the satellite via my omni-tool which should allow me to keep track of things like the movements of armies or even large magical creatures. Which almost certainly would come in handy somewhere down the line.

"Earlier you seem bothered by something" Cameron commented.

Yes I had been distracted just before entering the Cosmic Warehouse. I'd had the feeling that someone had been watching me, but there had been no one around. Perhaps it was the Great Dragon somehow keeping track of my movements with his powerful mind. If he could sense me then it made sense that I should be able to sense him. Although given my limited knowledge of magic I was unable to say for certain.

I was also a little worried about one of the magic users of this world sensing that I was new to this world despite having been inserted by the Jump Chain. I'd been inserted this way into the Mass Effect and the only person to discover the truth about me, without me telling them was Miranda Lawson, and she'd only stumbled across the truth by accident. Although Jump Chan may of had a hand in that. After all the harem idea had been hers.

While the Great Dragon may be the only creature in this entire world who could detect me, because of some sort of anomaly or because he was just that powerful, it was possible that others with magical abilities might be able to sense my alien nature.

Morgana was a seer of sorts and she seemed fine around me, however she should be affected by the fake memories people have of me, were as the dragon wouldn't have been since he didn't interact with people. Merlin might also pick on something, even without the Great Dragon telling him anything.

My main concern was Nimueh, she was a high priestess of the Old Religion, and while I didn't really understand what that meant, I was imaginative enough to figure that she might have some sort of divinity backing her up, which might allow her to detect me.

If so then I was disappointed, as I'd been hoping to be able to sit back and chill for most of this Jump, and thinking about that made me realise that it was possible that Jump Chan had allowed some creatures to sense me in order to spice things up.

"I got the feeling that someone was watching me" I informed Cameron "It might just have been nothing more than a bad feeling".

Cameron frowned.

"Then we should finish this work tonight if possible" she said "If someone is observing us then we need to secure your escape route".

My Terminator looked concerned, she was showing a lot feelings this evening.

"Will the satellite work?" Cameron asked "The boat should be fine as its just a more advanced version of an existing technology, but they don't even have flying machines in this setting".

I'd thought about this and I had a justification as to why this should work.

"In the show there's scene at the very end of the last episode of the last season that is set in what I would call modern times" I informed Cameron "It doesn't last for long, but you can see an old Merlin passing by King Arthur's resting place, and there's also a lorry from a supermarket chain".

Which didn't sound like a vital detail, but in reality it was.

"This isn't much to go on, but it heavily implies that Merlin is still around in the late 20th at least and maybe the early parts of the 21st Century, and that the technology is the same as in my world of origin" I was now saying "If so that means that while there isn't proper space travel in this setting, there are, or will be, space shuttles and so on, so we should be able to get something to orbit because it is possible in this setting, just not at this time".

We'd know for certain when we tried to get into orbit and it worked or not.

"Teleporting using magic is also possible" I went on to say "So doing so via technology should also be allowed since this setting doesn't outright forbid beaming.

Cameron smiled slightly.

"You're very smart" she praised.

Well I was an 'evolved' human. That had to count for something.

(Line Break)

 **Chambers. Camelot.**

"Master, there is someone here to see you" Cameron told me.

My bodyguard/serving girl had just entered the room, while carrying some cleaning supplies, I'd been expecting her, but no one else.

"Who is it?" I asked.

I put down the book I was reading, this one contained information on many magical creatures, including the dreaded Manticore. I figured that it would be good to gain some knowledge on these fantastic beasts, such as where to find them. I also wanted to know how to kill them in case one started terrorising the kingdom.

"He claims to be a merchant and he wants to make a deal with you" Cameron informed me.

This had my attention.

"Show him in" I instructed.

Cameron opened the door the whole way and a man entered the room. I didn't know how he'd gotten into the castle, and all the way to my chambers, but in the show no one ever seemed to have trouble getting into the Citadel. Maybe he'd bribed his way in.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked of the man.

Judging by the quality of his clothes he was a well off man, and yet he seemed a little nervous, perhaps he wasn't to dealing with knights. Which made me think that he wasn't a noble.

"I have an idea sir knight that could make us both a tidy profit" the merchant told me.

While I didn't know much about economics of this time period I did have the education of a knight and some knowledge of history, as such I did know that medieval merchants like this man tended to trade in exotic goods imported from distant shores, such as spices, wine, food, furs, fine cloth (notably silk), glass, jewellery and many other luxury goods.

As of yet I'd not taken the time to explore Camelot's markets, but I did know that it had a lot to offer, much more than you might think given how dangerous long distance travel could be in this era. Now it seemed as if the market had come to me.

"And what idea would that be?" I enquired.

For a moment the man looked as if he might turn around and leave, but he bravely soldiered on. I wasn't used to intimidating people like, at least in normal conversations, or when I wasn't in some sort of high tech armour. Clearly my Authority Perk was having an effect.

"Your kites, sir knight" said the merchant "I've heard people talking about them".

I'd made a few more for other ladies of the court to amuse themselves with. They must be very bored women I'd figured because all they could do most of the time was stand around while trying to look pretty. Which I was sure suited the vainer ladies just fine, but they weren't all that shallow.

"You want to sell my kites" I said to the merchant.

It wasn't hard to suss out were he'd been going with this. I had an advanced and well educated mind.

"Yes, sir knight" the man confirmed "I'd need instructions for their creation from you, and I'm sure that we can make them cheaply enough for the common folk, with fanicer designs for the nobility. You would of course receive a share of the profits. Which would repay your investment very quickly I'm sure".

Material wealth meant little to me, I had access to replicators, virtual construction technology, as well as a Matter Furnace, so stuff like gold and silver was easy to me to get access to any amount I wanted, so I had to remind myself that other people actually had to work at making money. As such I almost forgot to act as if I actually cared about any investments by me that only involve money.

"How much?" I asked.

The man would need money to pay for supplies and to hire people to make the kites, and he'd have to do that without any guarantees that people would buy them, so he was taking a big risk. I was not as even without my easy sources of money the amount he asked for wouldn't have a big drain even if the investment didn't work out. Besides the risk was far less than if I invested in a ship or trade convoy that went over land. Bandits or pirates were unlikely to steal materials for building kites or the finish product.

"You won't regret this sir knight" promised the merchant.

I was sure I wouldn't because success or failure would make little difference to me. Still I'd make sure that there was contract between us, as if nothing else I'd then learn the man's name, and it would protect the merchant more than me since I was a minor noble. Uther would always favour his knights in any dispute.

"Return this time tomorrow and I'll have your money and a contract prepared" I told the bloke.

He bowed and left, no doubt wanting to get out of my sight as quickly as possible in case he somehow offended me and I changed my mind. Which he didn't need to worry about as I should be thanking the guy, he'd given the idea of 'inventing' a few others things. Nothing major, I wouldn't want to tip the balance of power between the kingdoms, but there were bound to be a few things I could introduce to improve people's lives or at least entertain them. I'd give it some thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Reviews**

Rangle

He's only a weakling in terms of magical power, he's really the most powerful if you think about it. He could build a bomb and take out the whole kingdom if he wished or beam any of those powerful magical users into space. Or he could use his near-ascended powers to perform feats very similar to those shown by the most powerful of magic users.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 5**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

There was a soft beat in the air that came from a drum, and there was something ominous about it Merlin soon realised despite the fact that the drumbeat was at all loud. He decided to find out what was going on, and since he was heading in that direction anyway it shouldn't cost him too much time.

Soon he could see the crowd of people who were gathering here for some reason, and as he got closer he saw that there was a wooden platform in the middle of the crowd. Raised up enough so everyone might have a chance at witnessing whatever it was that was going on here.

When the young man realised what was going on here he gasped in horror. This was an execution, there was an axman, standing before a thick wooden stump. He soon glimpsed the condemned, who was currently being to led to his death by two guards, who didn't need to drag the man to executioner's block.

Clearly the soon to be dead man had accepted his fate and was attempting to leave this world with what little dignity he had left. Which wasn't much given how awful he looked. The man had not been able to bathe or change his clothes for some time, and he looked half starved.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all" a deep and commanding voice, proclaimed to the people.

Merlin froze, and turned his gaze up to the man who was standing above the crowd, on a balcony, from which hung with Pendragon banners. This figure, who had to be the ruler of the land, was dressed finely, and wore chainmail as well as clothes, a vestige of the king's days as a warrior.

He could be considered elegant, but his stern face made him seem arrogant and cold rather than noble in any sense of the word. This was was the man he should fear above all others. However it wasn't himself Merlin was worrying about. His concern was directed at the person who was about to die.

"This man," the king said next "Thomas James Collins, is judged guilty of using enchantments and magic. And pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned. On penalty of death".

Well that explained the axe and the stump.

"I pride myself as a fair and just king" the king went on to say "but for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass".

Uther's hand raised slowly, almost as if he were savouring it, and as his hand fell the axe did as well. A few of the people turned away, but Merlin could not. He kept seeing himself in that man's place.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos," Uther was now saying to the crowd "But with the people's help, magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured, and Camelot freed from the evils of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin!".

Uther turned to walk away, his work done, when a terrible scream rose up from the crowd. The noise was almost inhuman despite having come from a person. The source was what seemed to be an old beggar woman, she was a pitiful thing, with unwashed hair and ratty robes. The crowd backed away from her, seeming to be afraid for their own lives. Which made little sense since the frail old woman couldn't possibly be a threat to anyone.

"There is only one evil in this land," she declared, "and it is not magic!".

It was clear to all that she was addressing the king even before she pointed a dirty nail up at the king.

"It is you!" she continued by saying "With your hatred, and your ignorance".

The crowd was now backing even further away from the woman while the guards moved in.

"You took my son," she said next, while gesturing at her son's recently decapitated corpse "I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A son for a son!".

Uther reacted immediately upon hearing the threat.

"Seize her!" he ordered.

The beggar woman raised her cloak over her face, there were strange sounding words, another inhuman noise, and she disappeared into smoke.

Before long people were leaving now that the drama was over, and Merlin soon wandered off as well. He'd rapidly learned what happened to people who got using magic in this kingdom and was now starting to have seconds thoughts about coming here, but he carried on anyway, asking for directions as he sought out the man his mother had sent him to.

(Line Break)

 **Chambers. Camelot.**

As soon as I'd heard about some poor sod who was getting his head cut off for practicing magic I figured that Merlin would arrive soon, and since I didn't want my presence to interfere with the course of events that would led to the young warlock becoming Prince Arthur's manservant, this seemed like a good time to make my excuses and disappear for a few days. When I returned Merlin should be where he needs to be, and fate should take care of the rest without any help from me.

I'd already given my excuses to the prince, and while I would have liked to left by now he'd insisted that I train with him for an hour or so before leaving on my unspecified family business. Apparently the Perk called 'He Went To The Tavern' didn't mean that I was free to leave whenever I wished, but at least it ensured that no one questioned me as to why I wanted to leave. They just accepted my flimsy excuse of family business.

Since there was going to be a festival over the next couple of days the knights would be off duty, which meant me leaving less bothersome for everyone else. Well not for Cameron as she had to pretend to pack, while also seeing to her other duties. It was a good thing that she didn't need to sleep.

"Hold still" my bodyguard/serving girl instructed.

At times like this I missed the suits of armour my group normally used, the ones that were modified Vanir environment suits, getting in and out of those was pretty simple. Putting on chainmail armour was more time consuming job.

"I've been watching you practice" Cameron mentioned as she adjusted my armour "I think you can beat Prince Arthur, and you should".

While my memories of training weren't real they were close enough to at least allow me to pass as a knight, that combined with my body mods, which boosted both my strength and speed, meant that it would only be a matter of time before I surpassed any human warrior. I might already if I used my magical weapon.

"I agree that I could do it" I said to Cameron "But why should I?".

It wouldn't help with me keeping a low profile. and nor would it do to humiliate my boss, besides it might even led to some accusing me of using magic. which I wasn't.

"He's arrogant" Cameron was now saying "Someone needs to remind him that he isn't the greatest warrior around. And he mistreats the servants. I have solidarity with the working classes now that I'm one of them".

Perhaps he did need taking down a notch, and if needs be I could always lose to him some other day so that he put my success down to luck.

"Besides if you want to win the tournament you'll need to defeat him then, and it will be more believable if you've been seen defeating him in practice".

She had a point. I did want to win an upcoming tournament, not for the prize money, but because the winner got to escort the lady Morgana to a feast and I did want to spend some time with her before she became the big bad.

"Okay" I said to Cameron "But if this gets me kicked out of Camelot I'm going to find some way to punish you".

Which would be tricky since she didn't feel pain, and might enjoy any attempt I made to humiliate her, but damn it I'd find a way.

(Line Break)

 **Training Yard. Camelot.**

Arthur was in a bad mood, but he knew it wouldn't last. Training always alleviated his bad mood. Something about the physical exertion and the thrill of having deadly weaponry swinging close to vital body parts made him feel more alive. And after beating Sir Oldwyn, he did feel a little better. But he was still upset over his recent lose to Sir Gothic. It was the first time in several months he'd actually lost a practice duel. He wasn't sure if it was because his own skills were lagging or if it was because his opponent had simply improved so much.

Either way, he was in a terrible mood. First because of his father and his ranting about the virtues of public executions, and then because Morgana chose him to rant at about his father ranting about the virtues of public executions, and finally because of his subsequent guilt over the whole mess. After all he'd been the one who led the soldiers who'd gone to the man's house and arrested him.

Obviously the sorcerer deserved to die. Some crimes warranted death. But Morgana worried that the more the king punished so extremely those who used magic the more who those who opposed him would turn to magic, and those who could use it. However his father wasn't exactly wrong about the dangers of magic. The prince found the whole subject very frustrating.

"Where's the target?" Arthur asked.

The servant who was suppose to be keeping things in the training yard in some sort of order, motioned to the target that wasn't that far away.

"There, highness" he said.

On some level Arthur knew that he shouldn't bully the lower classes, but sometimes he couldn't help taking out his frustrations on others.

"It's too close" said the prince.

The servant seemed uncomfortable, it was likely that he an inkling of what was to come.

"I'll put the target down the other end, shall I, sire?" asked the servant.

Arthur nodded, and the boy scurried off to move the target to further down the field.

"This'll teach him," Arthur muttered to himself.

Arthur was quite confident in his skill, and the boy was in no danger. Still, he didn't take very long in aiming and it showed when the knife just barely managed to land in the bulls-eye. The servant felt the thunk of the knife as it embedded in the shield.

"Hey, hang on," he protested.

Arthur raised up another knife.

"Don't stop," he ordered.

The servant didn't dare protest any further, and he moved as quickly as he could, which was not very fast since the target was heavy.

"I told you to keep moving!" the prince yelled

He threw another knife and to Arthur's delight it landed perfectly on target.

"Run!" he then encouraged the hapless servant.

He was about to throw another dagger when someone else spoke.

"That's enough!" a stranger's voice called out.

In was more out of shock at this newcomer's audacity than the words that made the prince respond.

"What?" he said.

The dark haired youth who had just spoke moved closer.

"You've had your fun, my friend," he said "Now leave him be".

Arthur walked over to boy, he was more curious than offended by this commoner who dared to try to command a member of the royal family

"Do I know you?" the prince asked.

"I'm Merlin," the boy said, now speaking more cautiously.

"So I don't know you," Arthur said.

"No," Merlin responded,

"Yet you called me friend" pointed out the prince.

Obviously this boy had no idea whom he was talking to.

"That was my mistake" stated the youth.

"Yes, I think so," Arthur agreed, sounding somewhat magnanimous.

The prince's smirk soon faded away.

"I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass," Merlin said cheerfully

The knights who were within ear shot all laughed.

"Or I one who could be so stupid" Arthur stated "I'd be careful if I were you".

This encounter ended very soon. Merlin foolishly went to strike the prince, and ended up spending the night in the cell. Had a certain knight been present he would have been pleased by this as it was a sign that things were progressing exactly as they should be.

(Line Break)

 **Boat. Atlantic Ocean.**

"According to Cortana's estimations we're far enough out to sea that no one will stumble onto the boat" I said to Cameron.

The drive to the ocean hadn't taken long, and thanks to the route I'd been able to carefully plan out with the aid of mapping drones, and we'd not only been able to quickly get to the shore, we'd also been able to avoid the roughest terrain and any settlements.

Which was good because while I'd been able to cloak the MAKO, that hadn't hid the noise it made or the tire marks. If they were discovered no one in this world would know what sense to make of them, and as for the odd noise well if anyone had heard it I could only hope that it would be forgotten about before log.

Sure I could have installed a phase cloak to get around all that, however that would have taken more time, and I didn't like not having my escape route prepared.

Because the little ship was going to serve as my emergency beam point I needed to make sure that no one would accidently find it and start messing around the advanced technology. Which was why it was all the way out here and why I'd hadn't set all this up somewhere in the mountains or deep in some woods.

I could have chosen some remote island to build a base on, and perhaps I would, but that would have taken too long to set up. Now that I had satellite in place, as well as this boat in position, I now had somewhere to escape to should things go badly. Which would give me great peace of mind.

Which freed me up to enjoy myself as I played the role of knight in a romanised version of Camelot, that was in a world of swords and sorcery. Later on I could concern myself with a hidden base on a remote island, and already I was considering sending up a second satellite to scout out suitable locations for such a base. Maybe somewhere in Greenland, or Iceland if they'd not yet been discovered.

For now I ordered Cameron to drop the anchor, and then I moved below deck to turn on the machinery. There wasn't that much onboard as all Cortana needed to do with this stuff was to monitor me and beam out if she thought I needed evac.

There was no Internet, or anything like it, for her to monitor, as such she didn't need much in the way of equipment here. Even if I sent more satellites up it wouldn't require a lot of computing power, well it would but I had very advanced, and therefore very small computers.

"Everything is online" Cortana informed me "I'm linked to the satellite, so I'll be able to keep track of you as planned".

Good now she could beam me back to shore where my MAKO was waiting and I could drive that back to abandoned barn which served as the entrance to the Vehicle Bay. Then I could do some exploring before returning to the Camelot.

So far all was going exactly as I had planned.

(Line Break)

 **Isle of the Blessed. Albion.**

This was not something I'd planned.

"Come. We must talk" the sorceress said "This way".

While I was aware that it was possible for a powerful enough mind to reach out to another mind in their dreams, I'd not understood just how strange it was until someone had done it to me. Also it had been a lot vivid than when portrayed on the Stargate show, but Nimueh only had to reach out across miles rather lightyears, which must make it a lot easier.

The High Priestess led me underground, down a path of stone steps and into some sort of living space, it was nice enough, but as villains secret hideout went it was lacking in something. I wasn't sure what that it was, minions maybe?

I was also pretty sure that this wasn't her main hideout as this wasn't a cave of any sort and there was no scrying thing. I remembered that she used some sort of apparatus for her scrying, a magical of spying on people, in the show.

"Wait outside" I ordered Cameron.

So far the High Priestess hadn't paid any attention to Cameron, which meant that she might not know that my Terminator was anything more than she appeared to be. If that was the case I didn't want Cameron talking to her as she might say something that gave the game away.

"What do you want, Nimueh?" I asked

She was now just standing there, looking imperious, strong and certain of success. I wondered if anyone ever looked at me and saw all that. Nimueh seemed to be better than me at hiding any doubts and concerns she might have. Assuming she had any at all.

"Gothic, it is clear to me that the royal court of Camelot does not know of your gifts" she stated.

So she'd been able to sense that I wasn't what I appeared to be. This wasn't so surprising, but I didn't yet know if she'd sensed that I wasn't of this world, or if she could just detect that I had some magical power.

"That is none of your business" I said.

Her smile told me that she didn't believe this to be so.

"Why are you pretending to be one of Uther Pendragon's puppets?" she asked.

Her words made me angry, which I struggled to control.

"I'm no one's puppet," I replied "I'm a knight".

Nimueh frowned, which detracted from her beauty.

"The knights of Camelot helped Uther Pendragon slaughter my family, my friends, all those who practiced sorcery" she said.

Which had happened twenty years ago. Long before I'd arrived in this dimension, and if she did believe my cover story she must know that my fake identity, the me the people in this world remembered, would have been about four years old during the Great Purge.

"But the past is past" Nimueh said next "Gothic, you must understand that for you, to remain in Camelot is not only dangerous, but a waste of your gifts".

I was smart enough to understand that my magical power level was pretty weak, and that it would never measure up to any of the major players not matter how much I studied. Nimueh must be able to sense this, and since she was clearly trying to recruit me it was because of how close my position would allow me to get to the king. Plus I was a trained knight, and Nimueh knew how useful a knight could be even against magic.

"Sooner or later, Uther Pendragon will discover your secret and you will have to flee the kingdom. And if you are caught…, well you know as well as I do what would happen to you" Nimueh was now saying.

I did, and that was why I'd set up an escape route that no one could block. I didn't want to have to fight my way out of Camelot as that would needlessly endanger civilians. I'd never been one to simply accept collateral damage.

"No one has noticed my magic and I've been at Camelot for years" I said.

Nimueh smirked at me. I knew now that she at least suspected that I wasn't what I appeared to be, but she might not have figured out as much as Great Dragon had.

"And how much longer will it last?" I was asked "Can you take that chance that you'll be discovered?".

She spoke again before I could say anything.

"How long will you be able to hide your powers if you remain untrained? Fumbling in the dark, unable to use magic as it was meant to be used?" she wondered.

Now I understood now why'd she lured me here, she was offering me an apprenticeship, a way to gain knowledge, which I highly prised. Which was something I had considered while on the trip here. In theory it sounded good, but I was genre savvy enough to know that such offers could lead to damnation. Faust, in the legend, traded his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge. So I knew that to strike a Faustian bargain is to be willing to sacrifice anything in order to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledge or power.

"I can teach you all you need to know about magic" she told me.

My raw potential wasn't that great. I'd not wanted great magical powers because I'd known that would led to me getting bound up in the story which would bind Merlin's fate to that of Arthur's and that of Camelot. I was tired of decided the course of history, and I while I had perks to help deal with fate, it was better just not to get involved unless I really had to.

"What could you possibly teach me that I'd want to know?" I asked "I have no desire to learn dark magic".

There was no harm in at least hearing her out, and I had desire to piss her off.

"Magic is a tool, nothing more" she told me "Your choices determine whether it would be used for good or ill. But first you need to know how to harness it".

That sounded reasonable, but of course deals with the devil often were.

"And the price?" I wished to know.

The thing about Faustian bargains is that they are never worth the price you pay for whatever it is the devil offers. However since Merlin was going to kill this woman I might never have to pay it. But didn't mean I couldn't become corrupted before that happened. She might let me get a taste of power and then ask something that seemed like such a small price, but the price would only go up over time.

Of course she would keep her end of the bargain. Nimueh was lawful evil, assuming such terms could apply to people outside of Dungeons and Dragons. She'd try to twist things, and the knowledge she offered might be corrupting, but she would still give it.

On the other hand if I refused her outright I could end up with a powerful enemy, so it might be best to play along for a little while and then betray her, or at the very least get out of the way when it came time for Merlin to kill her. Not very knightly, but the code didn't really account for stuff like this.

I'd need some sort of safeguard in place as well, so that if she did started to corrupt me I could save myself, also I'd sign nothing in blood, nor would I do anything to place others in harm.

"Give me some time to think about your offer" I requested.

Nimueh gave me a few days, and once she had agreed to that I quickly departed.

(Line Break)

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

Not long after returning to Camelot I headed into my warehouse so that I could discuss matters in private with my Terminator.

"I'm pretty sure that she can't get to me in here" I said to Cameron.

Right now I wasn't even in the same dimension as Nimueh, and I knew from experience that the rules governing this place were different than anywhere else I'd been.

"Cameron I need you do me a favour" I requested of the cyborg.

I explained to my bodyguard that Nimueh might be trying to corrupt me and that if she succeeded that there would be signs, changes to my behaviour, and should I start to act out of character I wanted Cameron to force me into the Cosmic Warehouse so that she could straighten me out. All Terminators had detailed files on human psychology, and she knew me better than anyone so I was fairly confident that she could sort out my head if needs be.

And if she couldn't, well killing Nimueh should deal with the issue. As tough as a High Priestess of the Old Religion could be Cortana could lock onto her life sign, as we knew where she liked to hang out, and beam the evil bitch into space. If a lightning bolt could kill her then she should die if trapped on the surface of the moon. Which was within range of the advanced beaming tech we were using. Normally I didn't use beaming tech at such a range as there was a chance it could go wrong with those sort of distances, but it didn't matter so much when you were beaming hostiles around.

Her actual hideout might not be in the Island of the Blessed, but I'd scanned the area using my satellite, and she was the only life sign on the island. Which meant that she spent a great deal of her time there, and that made it easy to keep track of her.

"You're programmed not just to protect my body, but you're also meant to keep me happy, and I wouldn't be happy as the slave of some dark lady, and the bad guys in this world always end up dead" I was now saying to Cameron "So I know you can help keep me on the straight and narrow, relatively speaking".

The cyborg looked thoughtful, she was definitely more emotionally expressive since her last software update.

"Is there anything that can be done to help you resit any attempts at corruption?" she asked.

In fact there was.

"I think it would help if Nimueh wasn't my only source of knowledge when it came to using magic" I replied "I think there's a spellbook in the Royal Library, it's contained within a secret compartment, that you shouldn't have any trouble finding it since you can walk through walls when out of phase. Within the that hidden room there's a box with a goblin inside it, do not open the box, just bring it to me".

While I had no use for a magical gobin that could possess people, it was some kind of fey creature not a small Orc, it would get lose in a later season and cause no end of trouble. Best to nip that in the bud. I'd place the box which held the goblin inside one of the stasis booths and keep in there until I could find some uninhabited planet to set it lose upon in a future Jump.

"You sound like you've already made your mind" Cameron said.

I hadn't actually I was just trying to be careful.

"Before I make up my mind on what to do I want to sleep on it" I told my Terminator "Making an alliance with her is risky, but it could be worth the risk".

Perhaps I could consult the Great Dragon, he also had is own agenda, but he wasn't as evil, and if he could offer me knowledge then there was sense dealing with Nimueh.

"Let me know what you decide" said Cameron "And I'll plan out ways to kill her in case you decide to say no".

It might be possible to refuse her offer without making her enemy, but I wasn't going to count on it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Reviews**

 **jlnorris75**

I haven't written Jump Chain Gothic 2. I didn't think it was worth writing. Perhaps I'll change my mind in mind in the future.

 **JanusGodOfPossibilities**

Well he has DNA samples from lots of races, but no living samples of any plants and animals.

 **Shadowpawzzz**

I think it's because self inserts aren't considered to be proper writing by most people, they look down on SI authors. To be fair there are lots of SI stories that involve the SI, who is normally way to overpowered, coming into a fictional setting and fixing everything with little effort. I try not to make my SI characters too much like that while still trying to write entertaining stories.

 **skelly4128**

Yes it is possible for him to run into Morgause, as it does make sense for Nimueh to be one of her teachers. However there are suppose to be nine High Priestesses so I figure that she'd been taught by all of them at different times.

 **Joe Lawyer**

I don't really care if anyone reads my stories or not. I write for me and to improve my writing skills. If people don't like my stories then they don't have to read them. It isn't as if I get paid for this, and if I don't feel inspired to write for a story any longer than that's it.

In the Merlin verse spells aren't so much about throwing energy around as they are about altering reality. A better way to protect against that sort of thing is to seek out some form of protective magic not to make fancy armour which will draw attention.

In terms of uber powerful beings there is the The Triple Goddess, but she, or they, doesn't take direct action in the world, rather she empowers the high priestess and they have to try to interpret her will, and she's pretty much all powerful so even a fully ascend being might not be worthy of her attention. I assume that Jump Chain is set up to smooth things over with the Powers That Be, and so she won't be a factor, at least not directly.

I don't think the DNA of a massive fire breathing reptile would in any way be compatible with human DNA. Now Merlin's DNA that could be interesting, he inherited his Dragon Lord powers from his father which suggests that its genetic in some sense.

The lack of companions helps to keep things simple. He doesn't really need them, and they'd have nothing to do. Plus it does allow me to focus on Cameron whose becoming more human in this story. And of course he can pick up some new people.

Scrying is very useful. It's high on the list of magical stuff he needs to learn.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 6**

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

By the following day I'd slept on the offer made, and I'd decided that I would take Nimueh up on her offer. I was still going to make use of safeguards, and I was going to keep looking for alternate sources of knowledge, so that I wouldn't be dependant on the sorceress, and I would end our arrangement at the first sign of any corruption or alteration to my behaviour. Cameron would keep an eye on me, and give me a good slap around the ear if I start acting crazy.

I wasn't going to worry about what the High Priestess had planned as while in terms of the locals she was pretty powerful, compared to me she was basically a witch who lived on backwater planet. Her magical feats I could match, and in some cases surpass with my near-ascended powers, and since having that kind of power hadn't corrupted me it seemed that the lure of the dark side did hold much appeal to me. Mostly because I knew going down that road never ended well, and the price for that sort of power wasn't worth paying.

Of course I felt no pull towards the light side either. In my view those who served the light tended to be too passive to actually deal with evil, which needed to be handled in a proactive way. Good guys, they reacted to threats instead of acting by hunting them down before they become a more deadly threat, which allowed evil people to harm others before they were finally stopped.

My trail of thought came to an end when Cameron came out of phase and entered the Cosmic Warehouse. I had no idea what would happen if someone was out of phase while in the warehouse and I had no desire to find out. As she got closer I noted that my Terminator was carrying both a book, the magical text that I'd sent her for, and the goblin creature that was trapped in some sort of special box.

"As you requested, Master" said Cameron "A book about magic and a goblin contained inside the box you mentioned. I can't verify if this is the right goblin without opening the box, but this was the only container in the hidden room that shouted at me when I shook it".

Normally I ran my own errands, seeing no reason why I should get my hands as dirty as anyone else's, but I'd learned while setting up the Confederation that sometimes it was okay to let people go of and perform tasks they were suited to. Cameron was a Terminator, she was designed to infiltrate, to go on potentially dangerous missions, so I was just making use of her talents.

"Good work" I told her as I took the book "stick the box in the stasis chamber".

While the creature was not evil per say, at least not when compared to some magical creatures, it was troublesome and I didn't want it bothering me if it ever escaped, so I'd prepared a special stasis booth for the goblin. I didn't plan to keep the creature locked up forever, I would set it free at some point in the future, and while in stasis it wouldn't feel the passage of time.

I'd discovered that I could keep people stored in the warehouse without their consent. A while back I'd checked the rules and they stated that to take someone sentient from a setting requires purchasing them as a companion or putting them in a stasis pod. Also they said: Stasis pods are for "storing" extra companions or friends that were not purchased or offered in jump.

Of course the downside to forcing someone into becoming a companion was that even with my Perk that allowed to make people strongly loyal to me I'd never be able to trust them. Someone with a strong motivation could betray me even with my Perk, and the desire for freedom was a very strong motivation. This was why I would just set the gobin lose in some remote place sometime in the future.

"Seems to be a book on magic just as I expected" I said to Cameron, who had now secured the goblin.

Some of the spells didn't have any explanation for what they did, which suggested that this had been the grimoire of some magic user in Camelot's past. A grimoire was a book written by a magic user which can contain spells and magical knowledge, some of which might have been discovered by the writer of the book. I would likely start my own soon. Every magic users needed his own spell book.

Maybe I could do better that just some stack of papers. I might be able to create some sort of magic version of a Jedi Holocron. It was possible. I had the technology required, such as data storage crystals, holographic projectors, and I could create a VI (virtual intelligence) to act as an interface. I could even genelock it so that only people the ATA gene could access to the holocron.

But that could wait until I actually had some information on all matters magical to download into anything. There was no rush I had a decade, which was plenty of time for careful study. Also I had a tournament to prepare for and that meant even more training.

(Line Break)

 **Isle of the Blessed. Albion.**

When Nimueh appeared in another of my dreams I knew it was time to return to her so that I could tell her that I was accepting her offer. I'd thought it through, and I'd accepted the risks while also planning for them. I had a safeguard in place and a plan to deal the sorceress should she doing anything to me that Cameron or Cortana could detect. They were the aces up my sleeves.

"So do we need to do anything to seal the deal?" I asked.

Nimueh looked away, seemingly vulnerable for a moment. Which could just be an act. I would never totally trust this woman, not for a second

"I… I want you… to… to lay with me" she said.

She was playing coy. I highly doubted that she was this shy about sexual acts. It was far more likely that she was faking vulnerability in order to emotional disarm me.

"Are you serious?" I demanded to know.

She nodded to show that she indeed was.

"The is the deal sir knight" she said very matter of factly "Come to bed with me, and I will teach you all my secrets".

She adjusted her outfit so that now her shoulders were bare. Her dress looked ready to drop to the ground at even a stiff breeze.

"And that's it?" I asked "No contract signed in blood, no formal vow, nothing at all binding?".

I was fairly certain that my magical sensitivity would let me know if some sort if mystical binding was taking place. I figured she was simply going to use sex as a way of control, or at least influencing me. But if she thought I could be so easily coerced than she had no idea who she was dealing with.

"You're not unhandsome, Gothic" the high priestess said "Is it so strange to you that a woman would want to take you to her bed?".

Well no. I'd shagged more than my fair share of highly attractive women across several dimensions. Yet I hadn't been prepared for her forwardness.

"Do you not think me beautiful?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"Trust me, it's not that. You're one the most beautiful woman I've ever seen" I admitted.

She was rather stunning, a little too attractive really, I'd put it down to makeup, but that hadn't been invented yet. She could be using some sort of glamour to hide her true appearance, like the red woman in Game of Thrones. If that was the case then I'd rather not know what she really looked like.

It was also possible that she'd found some magical way of staying young. I'd found a fountain of youth, which came in the form of a chemical concoction, so why couldn't others. It would explain why she looked so youthful despite having been exiled from Camelot court around twenty years ago.

"Only 'one the most beautiful woman'. I can work with that" she while moving over to me.

She slid her hand up to my neck and tilted my head down towards her smiling lips. Then we kissed, slowly at first; not rushing, but then we acted more passionately. Before long I let her push me back down onto the bed that she kept here in this small room.

Her hands were now moving all over me, as she kissed down my neck, pulling my shirt aside as to to be able to kiss my chest. I hadn't worn armour when coming here as I'd beam straight to the island after getting up, not that armour would help much if Nimueh wanted to harm me. She could alter reality with just a few words.

She moved the shirt up and over my head, before she leaned back, so that she was straddling me. Next she slowly unfastened the buttons on her dress, which I had to wonder if she'd made using magic because the fabric was very high quality. However I stopped thinking about that when her small, but very pert breasts came into view. Her nipples show me that she was aroused before another part of her body could, which I discovered when she undid my trousers and lifted up her dress so that she could mount me.

As she began to move on top of me, with agonising slowness to begin with, she rocked her hips forwards and back, closing her eyes and moaning softly. Of course I didn't think she was doing this purely because she was horny, but she did seem to be into it. Perhaps she'd been by herself on this island for a while now.

Nimueh controlled the pace of our fucking with great skill, she was using her body to make sure that both of us were enjoying ourselves, clearly she had experience in this sort of thing. Since she was clearly in control her, and didn't need to me to anything I closed my eyes and let her do all the work.

I could have used my powers to make her feel the most intense pleasure possible, but there was no sense exposing the fact that I had such talents. Besides if she was going to try to seduce me to the darkside, and totally fail, I might as well enjoy it while she was acting so nice to me.

(Line Break)

 **Training Yard. Camelot.**

Morgana knew that Merlin, Arthur's new manservant, was watching the two of them dueling but her attention was completely on Arthur like his was on her so wasn't able to acknowledge it. Not that Morgana minded Merlin watching as she knew he was harmless, and to be fair it wasn't often that people saw a noble lady in armour who was not only sparring against the prince, but also holding her own. At least for now.

Arthur had a fire in his eyes that was exciting to see, his competitiveness was driving the blunted sword in his hand, and he a lot of youthful energy to throw into this mock duel. His recent loss against one of his knight had driven the prince to train harder than ever, and his hard work was already paying off.

After a few minutes the fight was over, with Morgana sprawled on her back and Arthur's sword at her neck. Arthur was hovering over her, his blunted blade only a few centimeters away from her skin, and she found herself breathing hard, because of the exertion, not because of anything else.

"See Morgana? There's no way you can ever beat me" Arthur, said with his usual cocky smirk "I just proved it to you".

She rolled her eyes, she was used to his arrogance, and she was able to stop it from bothering her. She'd beaten Arthur many times in the past, and now things had changed, he was the superior warrior, but that was only because he got to train a lot more often that she did. If she'd been born a boy then Morgana had no doubt she'd be Camelot's greatest knight.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that" Morgana said as Arthur helped her up "I can remember putting you on back many a time. It was almost as if liked having a woman beating you".

Merlin snorted upon hearing that and Morgana couldn't help smiling at the young man who had so recently saved Arthur's life. The prince, who had noticed the exchange of looks and the fun had at his expense, glared at the both of them.

"Listen Morgana. I have some real training to do, and I'm sure you will need at least a few hours to choose your dress before the tournament starts" Arthur said with a mocking smirk.

Morgana glared at him, a little offended, even if she actually didn't think he was being serious. Of course she would take her time carefully picking out her outfit, and she'd need time to do her hair and such, but it wouldn't takes hours, well not with her maid's help.

"I think she'll look great!" Merlin commented without thinking

The glare that Arthur sent his way was scalding to say the least. Morgana just smirked, she knew that glare. It was his 'Morgana is mine' glare, the one he always used when his knights dared complimenting her or otherwise pay attention to her. She wasn't sure he was even aware of doing it, and she didn't know why he was so protective of her.

Merlin paled a little under Arthur's glare, he'd simply wanted to be nice, and now he'd gotten himself into trouble, which was just so typical for him.

"The Lady Morgana is the King's ward, Merlin. Don't forget that just because she's friendly with you. My father wouldn't take it well to you showing her those kind of attentions" the prince warned.

Merlin swallowed. He knew well that Uthur wouldn't think twice about putting him in the stocks again, or having him flogged, assuming of course the the king simply didn't order Merlin's death.

"Arthur! Enough!" Morgana commanded, not liking Arthur's tone at all. "He was just paying me a compliment. Obviously not everyone thinks of me as you do. Some people actually appreciate me."

Then with a look towards the manservant she spoke further on the matter.

"Thank you Merlin" she said.

Merlin immediately smiled back at her. Meanwhile Arthur looked offended, but he chose not to start an argument.

"Well, I'll go now. I'll leave you to your training. You'll need all the practice you can get" she said to the prince.

With that she turned around and walked away, not stopping even when she heard Arthur's pitiful attempt at a witty comeback, She smirked again, teasing Arthur was always so much fun, and it wasn't as if she was allowed much in the way of fun.

(Line Break)

 **Chambers. Camelot.**

Once again Cameron was helping me put on my armour, and this time it would not be for practice so I was wearing full armour, which was heavier. Thankfully I was able to withstand the extra weight, as I had superior strength and I was in very good health.

In my view everyone should get themselves genetically engineered it really makes a big difference. My life span was at least double of what it had been before Jump Chain, I had a fantastic immune system, I healed really well, and I was much harder to injure these days. Plus with my enhanced reflexes and stamina I could wave a sword around much better than others.

"Are you going to win this tournament?" my companion/perk asked me.

It wasn't really an issue of losing so much as it was about winning the right away. I could easily defeat any human foe, the trick would be doing so without making it clear to everyone watching that I had superhuman abilities. I wouldn't use magic, as aside from the dangers of getting caught there'd be no honour in it, but since the people of this world had no knowledge of genetic engineering and advanced physiology, they would see my somewhat superhuman feats of strength and speed as magic.

As such I would have to win without making it too obvious that I had abilities beyond that of unaltered humans. Which meant holding back enough that my victories appeared natural, without holding back too so much that someone was actually able to beat me.

"I might let Arthur win" I told Cameron "His ego is pretty fragile, and if I show off too much in front of a crowd then someone might suspect that I'm using magic".

Cameron adjusted my armour, making sure that it fit right.

"I don't think that you need to worry about that" she said "From your files there's a knight with a shield that has snakes which come to life during this event if they don't notice that you moving a little too fast, or having too much strength behind your blows, isn't going to raise any eyebrows".

She had a point, and as a knight there would need to be actual proof of some sort of supernatural involvement before the king would do anything, and there was no proof that I was enhanced as they hadn't invented drug testing in this world never mind DNA testing. Plus Camelot's knights were the pride of the kingdom and very important to the king as they helped keep him in power, he wouldn't just lock one of us up because we showed off in a tournament.

"We have our evac ready route in any case" Cameron reminded me.

The risk to my life didn't concern me so much as I was a lot harder to kill than most humans due to my enhancements, and Cameron had extensive medical files for when it came to patching people up as well as taking them apart. That combined with our advanced medical tech meant that anything that didn't outright kill me could be fixed.

"You took your antivenom right?" Cameron asked to know.

I'd indeed taken an antivenom, the Star Trek version which neturiseled a wide range of venoms, some of which weren't even from Earth animals. I didn't know if that would help against Knight Valiant's magical snakes, but it couldn't hurt. I should be able to protect myself with my powers, but that would be a last resort.

"You were there when I took it" I said to the cyborg bodyguard "You handed me the hypospray".

She was becoming more like a real woman all the time. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

"If you win you get to escort the Lady Morgana to the feast" Cameron stated, as if I didn't already know this "This would be a good chance to improve her opinion of you".

While I wasn't planning to take a companion with me when I ended this Jump I'd not ruled it out either. A powerful magic user like Morgana would be a good choice as all my current companions were science fiction characters, and while their skills were highly useful some variety in my harem would be nice. Also I might visit more magical settings in the future, and if Morgana found out that she was a magic user the offer to take her somewhere were magic could be use openly would be tempting for the young woman.

Since I did desire her it would be wise to lay the foundations of a future relationship now. So aside from making her feel pleasure when around me I was planning to spend some time with her socially, and make it enjoyable for her, so that she would feel positively inclined towards me. Also I would have to stop her from turning evil, but that was a future concern as this was still very early in season one.

"What about the prize money?" Cameron enquired as my armour was finally in place.

The money meant nothing to me, but it could be present an opportunity.

"One of the traditions of knights is to tithe" I told my terminator "They were suppose to give one tenth of their income to the Church or worthy cause. Since there's no Church here I want you to find out which part of the crowd contains the poorest people and I'll hand out some gold coins".

A worthy act of a knight that would surely enhance my reputation.

"Rights let's get going" I said "Time to go swing some steel around".

With that I made my way down to tournament grounds.

(Line Break)

 **Tournament Grounds. Camelot.**

Morgana watched from the highest stand, in her usual place next to the King, as she waiting for the beginning of the tournament. Gwen, the young woman sitting next to her, watched excitedly as the various competitors entered the tournament grounds to be presented in front of the King. As a mere maid Gwen wouldn't normally be allowed to sit with royalty, but Morgana had insisted, and Uther had long since learned that it wasn't worth to argue with his ward over some matters.

"Knights of the realm" Uther was saying, starting what he would no doubt think of as a fine speech "It is my honour to welcome you to this tournament, here at Camelot. Over the next three days, you will put your bravery to the test, show your skills as warriors, and of course, you must challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur".

Morgana searched for Arthur at these words and immediately spotted him in the middle of all the other knights. Soon after her gaze met with his. Arthur inclined his head towards her slightly with a smile and Morgana smiled back. It was nice when they could show some small sign of affection towards each other without an argument breaking out.

Other knights who wore the red cloaks of Camelot knights could be seen as well, and Morgana smiled again when she laid eyes upon Sir Gothic, a man she found herself thinking about sometimes, he was the one knight out there that could challenge Arthur in her opinion. Although she had heard whispers of the skill of a man called Knight Valiant.

"Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces" Uther continued, while showing everyone the box containing the gold. "It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. Now let the tournament begin!"

The crowd immediately cheered at those words and then the tournament finally began.

(Line Break)

 **Tournament Grounds. Camelot.**

I staggered into the tent that was waiting for me just a few moments after my match against Sir whatever his name was had ended, and I collapsed onto a chair. I'd won, and I could have beaten the man sooner, but I'd needed to make it look good so I'd let the match drag on longer than it needed to. Which of course the crowd had loved, and the people had not only accepted my victory, they'd cheered me as Sir who cares what his name was, fell to the ground and yielded to me.

Despite how tiring that had been I had to admit, to myself at least, that it had been thrilling, far more so than it should be for someone like me, I'd flown starships to other galaxies and I'd battle all sorts of creatures, yet swinging my sword around and taking blows on my shield had been a major rush. Which was good because I was in this Jump to enjoy myself.

Cameron handed me a jug of water, and most of it ended up on my face rather than in my mouth. My Evercleanse Perk prevented me from having unpleasant body odor, but I still sweated and could overheat, which was a big concern when you had to fight someone while wearing a lot of armour. My suit of modified Vanir armour had many amazing features, but the one that no one paid much attention to was its ability to keep the body's temperature stable.

"That was impressive" stated Cameron.

Her praise was welcome, but since she'd seen me take on much more worthy foes it sounded a bit hollow.

"It's even more intense then it looks" I told the cyborg killing machine "There's no time to think, you have to act and react without thought. Muscle memory takes over, and one slip up means that it's all over".

Although it wasn't actually that dangerous, as we were using blunted swords, and our armour was of high quality, relatively speaking, however when fighting in the duel you don't remember that, it feels very deadly. The crowds certainly cheered as if it was all real.

"You have another bout this afternoon" Cameron needlessly reminded me "I'll prepare you a light lunch, you don't want a heavy meal before a duel, and you there's formal meal tonight so you'll have plenty to eat them. I recommend an early night after that".

It was sweet how much she cared for me.

"Sounds like a plan" I said.

While the main feast was still a few days away, the knights would dine with the king tonight and tomorrow, this would give everyone the chance to get to each other, some of the knights were from quite some distance away, and the royal family would get a chance to be formally introduced to the visiting warriors before sitting down to dine. I didn't care much for the formal meet and great, but I was looking forward to a big dinner.

"You should rest" Cameron urged.

I would do just that. I would need to gather my strength for the next match, which I would have to allow to drag on. At least the crowd would enjoy that, and I was impressing some of the noble ladies, which was of the good.


	7. Chapter 7

**Reviews**

 **Iskandr**

Sorry but I felt the need to explain stuff about this setting.

 **RoyalTwinFangs**

Thanks

 **Rangle**

Small when compared to others he's seen.

 **Joe Lawyer**

I agree and nice use of the word buttressing.

 **skelly4128**

I'm not aware of any anti conception plants that may have existed at this time. What is it called.

 **Charles Ceaser**

Now that's a scary idea.

 **Selias**

I recommend taking the time to at least watch the pilot.

 **frankieu**

I always found that show very entertaining.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 7**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Morgana was standing at the far end of the throne room next to Uther, in order to greet the participants in the tournament. Gwen was standing a little behind her, but also beside her, as was the custom for the personal maid. Morgana's task of formally greeting each knight, and wishing them luck was a dull one, mostly because she already knew half of the men competing as they were Camelot knights, and also because the task was repeated over and over again. Finally, after many stiff and formal greetings, the knight she was actually looking forward to meet, made his way in front of the que.

"Knight Valiant of the Western Isles" he greeted.

As he introduced himself the warrior made a bow at both Morgana and the King. The ruler of Camelot noted that the knight was wearing a yellow vest with serpents intertwined almost to form a triad, a symbol of magic as Uther well knew. But maybe that was just a coincidence, was his thinking. After all the Pendragon symbol was a dragon, a creature of magic, and the king was a great enemy of all magic.

"I saw you fighting today." Uther said in response. "You have a very aggressive style"

Valiant smiled more than a little arrogantly upon hearing that.

"To lose is to be disgraced" replied the knight.

Uther smiled, appearing satisfied by those words.

"I couldn't agree more" he said before turning his head towards the young woman at his side "Knight Valiant, may I present the Lady Morgana, my ward".

Valiant positioned himself so that he give the young woman a short bow and when he smiled at her Morgana smiled at him in return. A moment later she noticed Arthur glaring at Valiant out of the corner of her eye and that made her smile even more.

"My Lady" Valiant said.

Morgana smiled somewhat flirtatiously at him, although given that the king was standing next to her she was careful not to make it obvious that she found this man attractive.

"I saw you competing today" Morgana mentioned.

Valiant was now smirking rather than smiling. He was sure of himself this one, and while in others this pride might be make him offputting, Valiant at least had the skill to back up any boasts he made.

"I saw you watching" the knight said "I understand the tournament champion has the honour of escorting My Lady to the feast".

Morgana grinned, she making Arthur jealous and that always gave her a perverse jolt of pleasure.

"That's correct" she confirmed.

"Then I will give everything to win the tournament" Valiant said with conviction.

Morgana felt almost charmed by the knight, but his arrogance wasn't as charming as he thought, and making Arthur jealous was her main objective this evening, not stroking the ego of this warrior. Still she smiled anyway and nodded at him, seeing no reason to offend the man. Valiant nodded back at her.

"My Lady" he said once again, before walking away.

After a few more knights, it was the prince's turn. Arthur bowed to his father in a sign of respect and the two exchanged greetings. Morgana noticed Arthur looking at Valiant before turning his attention towards her.

"They all seem rather impressed by Knight Valiant" she said, just to goad him into some sort of jealousy.

Arthur of course immediately took the bait. Morgana was well practiced at emotionally manipulating the prince, she enjoy provoking him like this, but she wasn't sure why.

"They're not the only ones" the king's son stated.

Morgana smirked upon hearing that, more than a little satisfied at his response.

"You're not jealous, are you?" she asked,

Arthur made an attempt to hide his true feelings, but he couldn't fool Morgana

"I don't see there's anything to be jealous of" the prince said.

Arthur was too proud to admit that yes, he was actually jealous of the attention Valiant was getting, his own father was even now attempting to recruit the warrior into his army, so the young man simply walked on. As soon as the young prince was out of earshot, Morgana immediately turned towards Gwen

"Could Arthur be any more annoying? I so hope Knight Valiant wins the tournament" she whispered "Or maybe Sir Gothic".

Guinevere, who always sweet and kind, was actually shocked to her mistress say such a thing.

"You don't really mean that" she insisted.

Since Uther had decided to shower his attention on Valiant it was up to Morgana to formally greet the remaining Knights, so rather than reply to her maid she got on with her duty.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"What about Nth metal" Cameron suggested in a soft voice as we walked around the room "It is supposed to have special anti-magical properties".

As part of her job of protecting me my Terminator was trying to get me to create a suit of armour that offered superior defence than that of simple steel. Nth metal had anti-magical properties, however while I should be able to create a replica of my existing knight's gear with that material, using virtual construction technology, I recalled Nth metal could be unstable in its pure form. Which I mentioned to Cameron.

"I might end up blowing up the construction machine so, we'd have to erect a force field and experiment with the material" I said to Cameron "Nth metal is a transuranic iron so it's not very stable, but if it is a type of iron then we might be able to use to make a kind of steel".

While refining the metal and forging it into some sort of armour would be hard work, it should be simple enough to test its anti-magical properties since all I would have to do is learn a kind of offensive spell and cast it at the armour and at sets of armour that weren't anti-magical in order to see if Nth metal worked as it did in the Justice League animated series.

My memory of that show also reminded me that an electric current was part of how Nth metal worked, and that might make wearing the stuff somewhat tricky. Sure an isolating layer between myself and the armour would help, but it might not be enough if the metal's strange properties were increased by an electric current running through the metal.

Still if I could figure out how raw Nth metal was turned into something that could be used as armour and weapons, I could make an anti-magic sword. Sure I already had a weapon that could kill mystical creatures of all sorts, but I only had one of those, and I didn't think the Great Dragon would make me another sword given how dangerous and powerful they were.

"The only downside to using something like Nth metal for armour is that it would interfere with my ability to use magic" I said "Which granted isn't really an issue for now".

Hopefully it would not mess with my near-ascended powers.

"In folklore cold iron is suppose to be effective against fairy folk and some other supernatural creatures" I informed my companion/perk "But I don't know if cold iron is just normal iron or not, the cold bit might mean its iron that's not been forged".

The Matter Furnace should be able to create the material, and if wasn't just raw iron than we could study it. I should also consult my high priestess magic tutor on the issue of supernatural protection. She might have some magical amulet that would help keep me safe. If she saw any value in having me as a student then she'd want me protected. However that was a risk as she might want something in return, so maybe I'd seek out my own means of mystical protection.

We stopped talking as a servant passed us by with a tray of wine goblets, I took one, but before I could do so much as sip it, Cameron took the goblet and tasted the wine, not because she was thirsty, but because she was checking for poisons. Sensible as if Knight Valiant was willing to use magic to cheat then he wouldn't be above poisoning people, and I didn't think he'd care if innocent people got hurt while he was trying to take out a fellow competitor.

Before we could carry on discussing more methods of protection against the supernatural the Lady Morgana came over to where Cameron and I were standing. Since I'd already made my formal introductions this evening neither of us nobles bothered with any greetings between us.

"I don't believe we've met" Morgana said to Cameron.

My Terminator curtsied at her ladyship, and her whole attitude changed to one more suited for a serving girl.

"I'm just Sir Gothic's servant, milady" said Cameron, now sounding more like a native.

Morgana seemed mildly surprised to hear this.

"You have a maidservant" she said to me.

Normally knights had menservants or squires. It wasn't considered proper to have a personal servant that wasn't the same gender as you, not that I cared, and no else had made an issue of it so far.

"Cameron's been with me for many years" I told her ladyship "She served me long before I became a knight".

My intention behind those words had been for Morgana to assume that I meant Cameron and I had been together since our childhoods in this world, which would explain why she was at my side now. Morgana had her own loyal servant that she wouldn't wished to be parted from, and therefore should understand why I'd want Cameron around even though it might be proper for me to have a woman servant.

"Knight Valiant seems to be the centre of attention this evening" Morgana commented.

His aggressive style had impressed many, but while he was skilled I knew that Arthur could take him in a fight, as could I, but I had what some people would consider to be super powers. If it weren't for his magic shield and the fact that I had to hold back I wouldn't worry about the guy at all.

"There's more to knighthood than swinging a sword around" I told the noble woman "Valiant is too arrogant for my taste. A true warrior lets his actions speak for him".

Morgana smiled at me.

"Is that what you do?" she asked.

I nodded, and focused my power so that both Morgana and the woman who could one day be queen, felt a wave of pleasure pass through them. I could see them both blushing, but they would just convince themselves that this was oddly warm this evening rather than think I was doing anything to them.

(Line Break)

 **Tournament Grounds. Camelot.**

I brought up my shield just in time to block the blow of the mace that would have struck my shoulder, or even my head, if I hadn't reacted so quickly. The shield was the finest that money could buy, and while scanning all the shields for sale in the market place had been risky, it had been worth it in order to ensure I had the best one money could buy.

Even my armour was new and improved, having been replicated to be a perfect match in terms of appearance, and weight to the armour I'd started with. However while the material the armour was made out of was steel, it was very high quality and had been constructed on the molecular level giving it a toughness beyond that of any armour forged by a blacksmiths tools. I did intend to see if I could recreate my armour using metals that had some mystical properties, or at least superior protection against magic, but that would have to wait until I understood more about arcane forces and had time to experiment with different substances.

Right now my concern was focused on the giant of man, he was tall even my my standards, who was trying to beat me down with mace. It was blunt instrument in more than one use of the word, however it was still heavy and the man swinging it about, who was a knight from some part of Albion, could put a lot of strength behind each blow.

The crowd were loving every second of this, despite the fact that this knight was attempting to clobber one of Camelot's knights into a sticky paste, or at least a bruised mess. Lucky for me my superior reflexes and strength were keeping me safe, and already the man's blows were slowing down. Hardly unexpected given the sheer weight of his weapon as well as the armour he wore.

I blocked blow after blow, knowing that if my shield broke or if I missed a strike I would be trouble, but I kept myself safe and wore the foreign knight down, when I could his breathing over the cheering of the crowd I knew it was time to go on the offensive.

This time I didn't just block the blow, I used my shield to force the mace aside and swung my sword around. The knight brought up his shield to block, and from that moment on he lost the momentum of the fight. When that happened he'd already lost the match.

Most serious duels were over rather quickly with the stronger, and often more skilled, warrior overpowering his foe's defences before going in for the kill. In a tournament both knights held back so as not to kill or seriously injure each other, and they fought to entertain as much as to show off their skills.

Now I was working to end the match rather than to make the crowd happy, or to hide my true skill. Using my shield, which would already need repainting in black and gold, I bashed into the larger warrior with such force that he toppled backwards.

For a moment it looked as he might regain his balance, however I didn't allow this, and once more I used my new toy to unbalance the enemy knight, who fell to the ground. He couldn't simply get back up, since he was tired and in full armour, and before he could attempt to roll out of the way I had my sword pointing at his heart. It wouldn't penetrate the armour, it was a blunted blade, and his chest was well protected, but the move made it clear that I considered him to be defeated.

Perhaps I could have let the man get up and carry on fighting, however given his breathing I didn't think he'd last long and the knight knew it. He let go off his shield and mace, and I did the same before helping the man to his feet.

Despite having looked as if I was going to get pulverised mere moments ago as far as the crowd were concerned I'd turned the tables against what looked to be a superior foe, and as I helped the man I'd just defeated to get off the field the crowd cheered all the more loudly.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Since during this Jump I was suppose to be relaxing I'd not used my vast powers for anything important, and not just because I didn't want to risk getting caught, and mistaken for someone using magic, I simply didn't want to get too involved. I'd spent a lot of mental energy over the years trying to direct the course of fate for whole galaxies, and while the destiny of single kingdom didn't seem like much when compared it was still more responsibility than I desired.

However when I saw some getting bitten by one of Valiant's shield snake things I decided to take action. If only because I liked the knight who had been harmed, he treated the servants well and was always polite to those he talked to, he was also fairly skilled with the sword, but didn't brag about it.

Sir Ewan, if I remembered his name correctly, won several duels in the tournament before facing Valiant, who invoked the snakes on his magical shield to attack Ewan and defeat him. Since I could remember the events in the show I knew that Ewan was treated for his injury by Camelot's court physician Gaius and his apprentice. Merlin discovered the true nature of Valiant's shield and decapitated one of the snakes. With the snake's head, Gaius was able to brew an antidote to the snake's venom, and Ewan was on the road to recovery.

I also know that Prince Arthur planned to call Ewan as the crucial witness in his allegations before King Uther he was going to tell everyone that Valiant was using magic to cheat in the tournament, but unless I acted Sir Ewan would be attacked by another of the shield-snakes and he would die before he could confirm Arthur's accusation against Valiant.

Right now the court was being gathered, and I should be there, but I'd diverted to the chambers of the court physician, pretending that I had come out of concern for Ewan when in fact I had other intentions.

"Watch over him" I ordered Cameron in a whisper "Don't let anything bite him".

I then turned to Gaius who seemed to be preparing some kind of paste, not doubt to the treat the wound.

"How is he?" I asked the healer.

While Gaius spoke I laid a hand on the knight's bare arm and used my healing powers to speed up his recovery. I couldn't outright heal him without people becoming suspicious of me, but I could make this easier for the knight, and if he lived then Knight Valiant would be removed from the contest at the very least.

"He should be up and about soon" said the physician " the anti-venom is doing its work".

Since I wasn't known to be friendly with the knight I knew that I shouldn't stick around, and besides the prince had called the court together, and as a knight of the realm I should be there.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I stood close to Valiant, knowing that I might need to disable him should he not surrender after the acquisition was made. Since I'd gotten here a little later than I should I found that the chamber was already filled with guards, servants, my fellow knights and of course, Valiant and Arthur, who were all standing to the side in order to make a clear path for King Uther as he strode up to the throne.

Arthur had requested a meeting with the King, and the whole court was here. Uther didn't need anyone's approval to act, however at times such as this he made sure that he had his advisers and sycophants around him, as well as the knights who carried out his will.

"Why have you summoned the court?" Uther asked, how sitting on his throne.

The throne of Camelot was a simple thing. Given that Camelot was an old and wealthy kingdom the king could have had made a much fancier seat for royal backside. However Uther seemed to be someone who preferred the practical over the fashionable, to some extent at least. Which was why didn't adorn himself in too much jewellery, and tended to wear chainmail along with his somewhat fancy clothing.

"I believe that Knight Valiant is using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament" Arthur declared

Uther looked uncertain as he faced Valiant, and began questioning him about what the prince had just said.

"Sire, this is ridiculous. I've never used magic" stated the warrior

While the man's tone of voice remained calm his body language betrayed his nervousness, which didn't prove his guilt as having someone accuse you of using magic while in Camelot was rarely something that ended well even if you were innocent and Valiant was not.

"Does your son have any evidence to support this?" he continued

Uther repeated the question to his son, acting as if he wasn't within hearing range.

"I do" Arthur said confidently.

The prince presented his father with the head of the snake which Merlin had chopped off. Clearly it was not the head of snake you'd find in these lands, it was far too big, and the head's mere existence was enough to convince the king of a need to investigate this matter further. So Uther asked for the shield, and Valiant gave it to him, reluctantly I noted.

"Be careful, Sire" Arthur urged.

The prince then turned to his man servant.

"Merlin" I heard him whisper "We need Ewan. Find out what's happening".

Before long a still ill looking Sir Ewan entered the chamber, and when questioned he confirmed that a snake from Knight Valiant's shield had bitten him. His wound was further proof, I'd seen it and there was no way it could seen as anything other than a bite.

This was enough for Uther to order Valiant's arrest, and had the knight remained calm he might have been able to talk his way out of this, but he drew a sword, and could have done some harm if I hadn't been standing exactly where I was. Before Valiant could hurt anyone he felt the tip of my sword on the back of his neck, he wisely surrendered at this point, and was soon dragged away by some of the guards.

While I was pleased by this outcome it did mean that I was going to have to face Arthur in the final match of the Tournament, and since I desired to stay out of the king's sights I wasn't sure if I should win or not. There would be other chances for me to spend time with the Lady Morgana, and it would still be a victory for Camelot. Plus I could always compete and win next year.

(Line Break)

 **Tournament Grounds. Camelot.**

The sound of two steel blades crashing into each other again and again was deafening. Prince Arthur and I had both cast our shields aside, and now we faced each other with only our swords. We were two knights of Camelot, who were ready to meet each other on the field of battle, and our skills with the swords would decide who was the victor here. Which was something the audience couldn't be any happier about.

Steel swords were not light in weight and it while our high quality armour didn't hamper our movements as much as it could it was heavy stuff, yet both the prince and I moved faster than any other knights had during this contest.

As I slashed with my blade, a move the prince easily protected himself against I began to wonder if Arthur was special in ways that went beyond his destiny. His origins were magical, and perhaps that affected him in ways that no one could see.

Soon I became far to busy to think about such things as the Once and Future King went on the offensive. I was forced to block each blow, I had no time for anything else, and when the two weapons met the sheer force Arthur was putting into his attacks caused my arm to ache.

While his face wasn't visible behind his helmet I could just about make out his eyes and they showed me only fierce determination, no hint of doubt could be seen, and the power of his blows matched that level of devotion to his victory. He would not accept failure, and he would not surrender this match. To put things simply, he wanted to win very badly.

I could still beat him, I could use my powers to cause him to trip, or I could have caused the nerve endings in his hand to spasm due to pain, but then it wouldn't be a true victory. If I was going to win it would have to be while using my more mundane skills.

Yet even as I traded blows with the young price I wasn't sure I wanted to win. Partly this was because I didn't want Uther to notice my existence anymore than he already had, but also I was concerned that losing this match would cause Arthur to lose confidence in himself, and that might cost him somewhere down the line.

At no point did I decided to throw the match, as I was conflicted on the issue, but I did hesitate for a moment, and that was enough for Arthur to disarm me as our blades skidded against each other. I lost my normally firm grip and before I even think about throwing a punch or trying to recover my weapon, the prince had his sword pressing against my neck.

It was a blunted blade so I wasn't in much danger if his hand slipped, but I had no desire to have naked steel touching my skin so I raised my arms in surrender.

(Line Break)

 **Chambers. Camelot.**

After I'd had enough of the feast, which had been fun despite not getting to escort the Lady Morgana, I'd returned to my chambers for some rest. I might have lost, but I'd lost to the reigning champion in the final match so my honour was intact, and Knight Valiant would be dealt without Sir Ewan dying so that was a plus. They arrogant warrior would be hanged first thing in the morning.

"You let him win" stated Cameron.

That wasn't totally true. I could have won, just not fairly.

"He took me by surprise" I admitted "His skills have improved rapidly".

Which was no doubt helped by facing a foe who could challenge him. You can learn as much from a defeat as you can from a victory, and the prince had learned. He must have been carefully watching my duels in order to study my fighting style, and he'd adapted his own style so that he could beat me. At the time I hadn't seen this, but in retrospect it was obvious.

"There'll be other contests and other chances to beat Arthur" I said to Cameron "But overall I think him winning was for the best. If I'd beaten the reigning champion after showing a sudden increase in fighting skills then people might think I was using magic, but not cares who came second place. All the attention is on Arthur and I can stay in the background".

Besides Arthur was deserving of victory as for his faults he was a great fighter, and the people of this land needed to see their future king as supreme in battle.

"I would have liked to have escorted Morgana to the feast" I admitted "But she's not going anywhere yet. We're still very early in season one".

There was no rush. I had ten years before I had to leave this world, and plenty could happen in that amount of time.

"Now I'm going to bed" I decided "I know what happens next in the show, but there might be more going on this season than I saw on the show so I need to be rested in case something dangerous happens".

This was a land of myth and magic, which meant many strange and wondrous were out there. Some of them would becoming to Camelot. I'd have to prepare for them as best I could.


	8. Chapter 8

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 8**

 **Isle of the Blessed. Albion.**

While I didn't think that I'd ever get used to having Nimueh summoning me to her island by appearing in my dreams, it was at least a secure means of communication between us, and I was willing to put up with her intrusions as she was still useful to me.

Also it helped that as of yet she hadn't asked me do anything for her that could be corrupting or harm Camelot in anyway. I was sure that one day soon she would, and then I would have to re-evaluate this relationship. But for now I had much to learn.

"Those gifted with magic have the ability to change the world around them" the High Priestess told me.

Similar to the powers of the near-ascended, magic was neither good or evil, any morality these powers have comes from those who use them not the power itself. So while there were those who used magic for selfish reasons, there are benevolent users of magic who wished to use it for good.

I did sometimes use my powers for personal gain, but very rarely for my own gratification. I always had larger objectives in mind and those benefited others often more than myself. I also had a moral code of my own which prevented me from using my powers for evil. While I was emotionally distant from most people I still cared about others and wanted them to be happy.

Since I always kept my larger goals in mind while holding myself to a certain standard of behaviour I'd never been seduced by the darkside, or whatever it was you wanted to call the thing that drew people to evil. I might not be the smartest person around despite the vast amounts of knowledge I'd collect, however I had some wisdom. I knew that the dark path never led anywhere you wanted to be.

Nimueh was now telling me that magic could be evoked voluntarily through spells, though I knew from watching the show that at times it also appeared to manifest itself in uncontrolled ways such as Morgana's prophetic dreams. Magic wasn't just a exotic energy source certain people were able to call upon, it had a will of its own, and might even be sentient to some extent.

This was further supported by the fact that magic also has its own set of laws, specifically when dealing with power over life and death. Most magic is tied to the Old Religion so the High Priestesses like Nimueh had a greater understanding of magic, which was why I wished to learn from Nimueh rather than someone like Gaius.

However given that magical races weren't always bound by the rules human magic users were, this suggested that magic itself didn't enforce the rules, rather it was the system of magic used that enforced rules. Perhaps it was people that made magic somewhat sentient. This would explain how I'd be able to use magic in other realities were magic worked differently. The magic itself was a source of limitless power not bound by anything, and it was people that somehow placed limits on it.

Humans were also limited by their ability to call upon magic as they weren't magical creatures. There were some exceptions of course, such as Merlin, who could use magic intuitively and required little or no training to be able to manipulate reality.

For others, such as Gaius and myself who weren't born magical in anyway, magical power had be developed through years of study, but it was ultimately limited if they weren't born with the talent. Which was why I'd selected a magical ring when setting up this Jump as it was a magic battery and with it I'd be able to perform spells beyond those of a sorcerer of my level.

A staff could be used to act as an amplifier of sorts. I had one that boosted my near-ascended abilities, and if i could learn how magical staffs worked perhaps I could combine the two kinds of staffs in order to provide extra juice for both my near-ascended abilities and my magical powers.

However even without help I should be somewhat more talented than Gaius as he didn't magical sensitivity, which was why he couldn't talk into people's heads or hear them, druids who were somewhat born to magic, could do that as they had magically sensitive.

But since I had limited knowledge of magic I would have to rely on my near-ascended powers if I got into magical combat with another sorcerer. It would take many years of study before I cast anything more than the most simple of spells. Thankfully I had the time.

My tutor was now explaining that the wielding of magic, particularly for those without innate magic, generally requires incantations, which were spoken words of power of the Old Religion. Which meant I would have to actually learn a new language rather than just let my universal translator or one of perks handle it for me.

For the majority of magical acts there was physical sign accompanying its use. In the case of human sorcerers, hand gestures were often used either by themselves or along with words, as an aid to focus, and the irises of the user glow briefly gold as the magic does its job.

Which suggested that the magic was not totally an external force, and that even if people like me didn't have magical energy within them, then it could pass through us. This was supported by the fact that using a magic spell seemed to be physically taxing.

Some spells required the use of specific objects such as magical crystals, poppets, potions, herbs, or runes, a few might even require a staff. From what I learned so far the complexity of a spell's preparation relies entirely on the difficulty of the spell cast and the power of the sorcerer. As such the more skilled I became the less I would depend on the aid such things.

"One of the more powerful types of spells allow the control of the four elements" Nimueh was saying "Fire magic for example is a series incantation used to magically conjure flames, to control fire or to make a flames grow. These are very powerful, for they control the most important of the four elements: fire, yet for all this power, magical fire is controllable by even those not born to magic".

The High Priestess moved her hand in a circle, her palm facing away from us so that I could not fully see what happened, however I was able to see and sense enough to know that was gathering magical energies for a singular purpose.

A moment later a fire ball, it couldn't be called anything else, went flying into a small pile of stones, and they pretty much exploded. Clearly this was meant to impress me, however I could have done much the same with my near-ascended powers, or with an energy weapon.

"Stand back" the sorceress instructed.

Once I had done so she went on to cast another spell.

 _"Forbærne yfel"_

A ring of fire now surrounded Nimueh, but again this failed to impress as it also something a near-ascended human could do. If she was disappointed by my lack of a reaction then she hid it well.

"Fire magic like what I just showed you are the more advanced kinds of that sort of magic, and the most dangerous" Nimueh informed me "You must not use such spells until you have mastered the more simple fire spells".

She turned to an unlit fire, and lazyly waved her hand over it.

 _"Forbearnan"_

The fire was now lit, but didn't remain so for long as the woman made another jester which snuffed out the flames.

"This lesson ends when you lit the fire" Nimueh told me.

Since I'd never cast a spell before I had a feeling that this could take a while.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

As a knight of the realm one of my duties was to protect the royal family, either directly like I was doing today, or by removing threats. While I was sure that in the future I'd be sent out to battle some enemies of the crown, right now I was guarding a member of the royal family.

To be precise, I would be escorting the Lady Morgana, and her maidservant, to a spot not far from the citadel so that her ladyship could enjoy a picnic. This wasn't the sort of thing that made it into the epic sagas, however I didn't mind as spending time with Morgana could be a good thing.

I still intended to recruit her as a companion, but there was no rush, and on the day when I exposed to the truth of who and what I really was, thing would go much easier for me if she was deeply in love with me, or at the very least had strong positive feelings towards me.

Manipulating people's feelings wasn't something I normally did. Alas for Morgana her future was a not a good one, so unless I altered her fate and her changed her loyalties she would meet a bad end, and this was not something I desire for her. So it made sense to recruit her so that she knew that there was an escape from this world. I could even put her into stasis in order to protect her from her fate.

Currently there was no reason to worry about Morgana's welfare, she was a young, healthy woman, in both mind and body. Emotionally speaking she was happy, despite her nightmares, and aside from those her biggest problem seemed to be boredom.

I didn't need any fancy empathic powers, only a basic understanding of human beings, to realise that Morgana was not content to waft around the castle while looking pretty, which seemed to be the purpose of most the woman nobles in this kingdom.

This was also a good thing for me as Morgana was adventurous, and she wanted more from life than to marry some prince or noble lord, she wanted adventure, some thrills and to be able to help people on a large scale, all of which Jump Chan could provide.

Morgana had value to me, as not only did she have the potential to become a powerful spellcaster in the future, she was also a Seer of sorts, which meant she could see the future. Some humans who approached Ascension could also have visions of what was to come.

While I'd gained many of what some people would call 'super powers' I'd never developed the talent of seeing the future, and I was glad of that as having the powers of a Seer seemed like a great burden to me. I much preferred the powers I had.

Also it helped that she was very beautiful. Her dark hair and pale skin contrasted nicely, and didn't end up making her look sickly. I desired for her to become my companion for her looks as well as her power, and so far she seemed to be good company as well.

Right now I couldn't trust her with knowledge of who I really was or what I had to offer as Morgana was still very loyal to the king, and he would not understand that a Jumper was not someone you wanted to mess with. He would label me as a magic user and have me hunted, which would not go well for anyone involved.

"I trust you'll behave yourself with Lady Morgana, keep her safe" Arthur was now saying to me "and have her back before dark".

With some effort I was able to hide my laugher. He was playing the role of older brother so well without knowing that Morgana was in fact his sister. Although I didn't actually know if Morgana was the younger sister or not as I didn't know her age, and it would be rude to ask.

Not that it should matter to me. Heck I didn't even know how old I was, and since I'd been deaged several times over the past few decades, I wasn't even sure if I should count the years. I wasn't actually immortal in strictest sense, however I couldn't actually die while on Jump Chain so I could be considered a kind of immortal as long as Jump Chain lasted.

"I will, your highness" I told the prince as I finished attaching my bags to the saddle of my horse "No funny business and be back before sunset, understood".

Arthur was concerned, his facial expression gave that much away, and I was sure if it wasn't just the lack of physical protection that concerned him, I think it had to do with her going off almost alone with some guy she hardly knew. I figured it was more the later than the former. Sure Morgana's maid and Cameron were coming along, but I would be the only man.

"Tell you what, why I don't send Merlin with you" the prince offered.

While it was phrased as a suggestion, Arthur's look let me know that he would tolerate no debate on the matter. Not that this stopped Merlin.

"But... but..." the young warlock struggled to say.

As far as I knew Merlin hadn't detected that I was anything other than I appeared to me, which made some sense as he'd arrived after I did so he'd have no reason to question my backstory, but he was a creature of magic like the Great Dragon, as such he might be able to sense that I wasn't all that I appeared to be. Although if that was the case you'd think he'd want to keep an eye on me while I was alone with people that he cared about.

I didn't worry myself much about Merlin as I was no threat to Arthur, and even if he did figure out that I had some magical power, or what seemed to be magic, he didn't have any proof and I could easily escape should anything about my true nature come to light.

"This is a good chance for you to practice your riding" the prince said, trying to act as this was no big deal "You know the basics already. A leisurely ride to a picnic site and back is just what you need to get used to the saddle".

Arthur placed a hand on the warlock's shoulder. The gesture looked friendly, but I could see that Merlin was feeling some discomfort.

"Merlin you can go for a nice picnic out in the sunshine, or you can stay here and help with my training" the prince then said.

I'd never seen anyone ready a horse so quickly. He really, really must not like training.

(Line Break)

 **Field. Albion.**

We didn't ride for long as a lot of the castle was surrounded by woods that didn't have the best reputation, however there were some pleasant meadows and from these spots the citadel could still be seen, if we'd intended to go any further than this I was sure that the prince would have insisted that we travel with a few guards, maybe even some more knights.

I was fairly certain that Morgana had intended to travel further from the citadel than this, as she could be reckless so it wouldn't surprise me if I later discovered that she'd not wanted any protection at all. Morgana didn't know me that well so I suspected that I was part of some sort of compromise between the prince and the king's ward.

Also I knew that Morgana wouldn't be above using me as a means of making Arthur jealous. Not because she was cruel, it was just that Morgana enjoyed teasing Arthur as siblings often did. However Arthur didn't know Morgana was his sister and therefore didn't understand his feelings towards her.

While Morgana was equally as ignorant of the truth, she seemed to have developed a sisterly affection for Arthur despite that lack of knowledge, no doubt helped by the fact that they would have been raised together once Uther took Morgana in as a ward.

Not many people knew the truth of Morgana's and Arthur's origins. In fact aside from the king no one knew more than me about them. I even knew that if the truth were to ever spill from my lips that the likely outcome would be either or both of his children trying to kill their father.

"Shall we stop here my lady, or keep riding for a little longer?" I asked the Seer.

Before she could speak, Merlin expressed his concerns.

"We don't want to get too far from the castle" he insisted "Maybe we should go back, just a little".

He and Arthur did indeed have a strong connection. I could hear the prince speaking through his servent.

"There are more than two directions to travel in" I reminded the young warlock "As long as we keep clear of the woods there's no reason we can't keep moving".

The Darkling Woods, which wasn't the most savoury of places, encircled the citadel, but that didn't mean there wasn't plenty to see between the walls of Camelot and the treeline.

"I'd like to ride for a little longer" Morgana said, looking at Merlin before turning to face me "I don't get out much, and it is a lovely day".

While it often rained in this part of the world, the British Isle were known for regular rainfall, the weather was otherwise rather pleasant. Summers rarely got too hot, the winters could be rather mild, and we didn't have many storms, at least when compared to other lands.

"As you wish my lady" I replied.

Of course I could ride a horse since that was part of the memories I had of knightly training, which while impersonal were ingrained so well into me that I didn't need to think about them. However I was surprised to see how comfortable Cameron looked on her steed.

She'd chosen a large beast for this ride, which made her seem smaller than normal, and this was because she wasn't human. She was made of metal, instead of flesh and blood, so the extra weight would have been noticeable if she'd taken a pony.

Aside from the weight issue, which I would never bring up in conversation as Cameron was still a female even if she wasn't strictly speaking a woman, there was the fact that my Terminator normally made animals skittish as to their senses she would seem wrong.

Yet not only could she ride a horse, which must be something she'd learned during her latest software update, the animals seemed at ease around here. Thinking on it I realised that I'd not heard any dogs barking when she close by, and there were plenty of dogs in Camelot.

I could only conclude that Jump Chain must have done something to my bodyguard to help her blend in more with the setting. What that was I didn't have a clue, and I knew from experience that it was just best to accept these things.

"This looks good" I heard Merlin soon say "A nice spot for the picnic"

He was uncomfortable with us going to far, and since I knew that he had more than enough stress to put up with just dealing with Arthur I decided to agree with him. Besides the afternoon was dragging on and I had to take the ride back into account. Also while I did not fear the prince it would be best to have Morgana back a little earlier than commanded, as then he was more likely to trust me with her safety in the future. This would serve me in my plans for Morgana.

"Yes" I said, bringing my horse to a stop "We'll set up here".

No one had any differing opinions on the matter so we all began to dismount.

(Line Break)

 **Field. Albion.**

"Sit down and stop fussing" I instructed Merlin "You don't need to wait on us, you're the prince's servant not ours".

He'd already insisted on feeding and watering the horses, and Cameron had laid out the picnic so there wasn't much for him to do, yet he seemed to be filled with a nervous energy. It was as if he expected to be yelled at and given more work if he tried to relax. Arthur was clearly working the poor boy too hard.

While his presence here was somewhat of a hindrance to me, as I couldn't risk using my near-ascended powers to make Morgana feel good with the young warlock around, he might be able to detect it, or at least become suspicious of me if Morgana acted a little strangely, I actually liked the lad.

"He's right" agreed Guinevere "come sit down, we can serve ourselves".

Perhaps Merlin didn't feel it was proper to sit and eat while members of the nobility did the same, however Morgana's maid did not seem to share that opinion. She was sitting on the blanket while taking lady like bites of her food.

I resisted the urge to eat my fill and remembered my manners. Dining with others hadn't been a common occurrence for me since I'd left Voyager. During my time in the Stargate verse I'd tended to grab bites to eat whenever I could, normally while travelling in hyperspace, because I was often rushing about from one place to the next for some important reason.

Of course I'd made an effort to stop and smell the roses, to see the sights such a universe had to offer, but those times had been few and far between. I'd spent more time in labs and workshops than I had enjoying the simple pleasures that came from the company of people as well as the more agreeable aspects of nature.

I figured that one of my newer Perks, that of magical sensitivity, might be making me more comfortable in the great outdoors, after all druids were magically sensitive as well even if they didn't go around casting any spells, and they seemed to like nature.

While I was enjoying nature right now I didn't let that distract me too much from the people around me. Cameron wasn't the talkative type, but Morgana seemed to be trying to engage her conversation, she wasn't one to let the class system prevent her from acting friendly.

Merlin wasn't very talkative either, and I didn't have anything to say to him really, so I just let the girls natter away as the afternoon passed us by.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The five of us returned the Citadel after a pleasant afternoon of doing nothing at all important. Which had been very enjoyable and I'd gotten Morgana to the castle well before dark so the prince had no reason to complain, he wasn't even here to greet us upon on our return which told me that he hadn't been expecting me back so soon.

Morgana seemed happy, and that was what really mattered, I wanted to her to enjoy spending time with me, so that she would seek out my company in the future and even come to trust me. I also needed her maid to like me, because she might be queen one day and her opinion of me would also influence Morgana.

"I hope we can go out riding again soon" said the Seer once she had dismounted from her horse "Its rare that I get to leave the castle without a small army of escorts".

Uther was a protective father, and unlike most parents he actually had an army to protect his daughter with. Not that this made him a threat to me, but it could make courting Morgana somewhat of a tricky affair.

"I'm at your disposal, my lady" I told her.

Once Morgana and her serving girl were gone I left the handling of the horses to the servants. At some point I'd get used to having humans serving me. I was somewhat used to robot underlings, but human minions were still new to me despite me having run a government at one point.

"Any plans for the rest of the evening?" Cameron wondered.

I nodded.

"Think I'll put my feet up and do some studying before dinner" I told her "Then I'll do some causal reading before bed. Tales of knightly adventures seem to help me sleep".

Which didn't sound very thrilling, but this was Camelot. I should relax while I could before some monster or mischief maker turned up to unsettle matters.


	9. Chapter 9

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 9**

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

Cortana, who was in control of the probe that was currently hovering before me, used the high tech device to project a hologram. The quality of the image wasn't that great, but it was more than detailed enough for me to realise what I was looking at.

"I think this would make a good base" the AI was saying to me "It's in a remote location, its hard to reach, that combined with the cold weather and lack of food in the area makes assaulting the fortress with an army problematic to say the least. I scanned the base and found no life signs".

This time I didn't need an Asgard memory stone to help me recall this place. Not that I used that device so much these days as I had a much powerful mind than that of most humans. I was able to recall important details and to figure out ways to use information to my advantage very quickly.

"It's call the Fortress of Ismere" I told Cortana.

At least two years after her second downfall, which was many years from now, assuming that it would still happen, Morgana Pendragon used the Fortress of Ismere as a hideout for herself, the young dragon Aithusa, her men and a Druid ally of hers. She also occupied the fortress as part of her search for the Diamair.

In the show Morgana was looking for the Diamair, the key to all knowledge, so that she could find out what Arthur's Bane was. With this information, she would have been able to find out how or who by, Arthur would die. With that knowledge she'd able to kill her half-brother and take his place as ruler of Camelot.

What Morgana didn't know was that the Diamair was in fact the Euchdag, a living creature, and because she thought that she was looking for some sort of object that was hidden somewhere in or around the fortress, she ordered the prisoners that her minions captured, to dig around in order to find it.

The Euchdag was humanoid in appearance, but rather alien looking despite that, which meant I shouldn't have trouble recognising it if I saw the creature. Not that I had any desire to interact with the strange lifeform as I had no desire to know everything. If the Euchdag was under the fortress then I could seal off the lower levels and leave it in peace.

Cortana was now showing me images on the inside of the fortress. The throne room was virtually empty, except for an old throne, some unlit torches and a few statues, all of which were covered in cobwebs. The castle's insides included many passages, a few large bed chambers and what looked be a dining room, all of which were also covered in cobwebs.

"We can transport some equipment and bots to the fortress, and they clean the place up" I said.

Because I had a role to play in Camelot I couldn't just go off to the fortress and renovate the place. However I didn't need to as Cortana could remain linked to the bots stationed in the castle via the satellite we kept in orbit over the kingdon, and she could oversee the work. All that would be required of me would be to take stuff out of the Cosmic Warehouse so that the materials could be beamed to the fortress.

Once it was habitable and secured with many layers of defences, I'd have a better place to retreat to that a boat in the middle of the ocean, which I had always intended to be a short term solution. As a bonus this fortress could be used to store things I wanted to keep out of the hands of people, but not place in my warehouse. And I could use it a permanent base should I ever be driven out of Camelot. I didn't think I'd need a whole fortress just for a place to hide out, but it was best to prepared for the worst.

Much later when my decade was up I could destroy the fortress, or leave it and come back to reclaim once I had Planeswalker spark, if I failed to achieve the spark then that would be okay as I could place the large building out of phase with a power source that could last for thousands of years.

"I don't know if my magical tutor can track me wherever I go or if she'd just spying on Camelot, so I won't set foot in the fortress until I have some ways of defending against her scrying" I was now saying "But I think there is somewhere I can go to obtain that knowledge".

Somewhere in Albion was a city called Helva, it was a place were magic was practised openly rather than it secret because in most places was forbidden by law. I'd heard only stories about it, and I had no idea why Uther hadn't burned it to the ground years ago, but what matter was that in a city were magic was tolerated at the least I should be able to find something that would shield from scrying.

At least I wouldn't have to worry about anyone recognising me as I had little piece of Stragoth technology that would allow me to assume another's form. No one in my group had ever figured out how to control the mimicking devices so I'd be stuck looking like a member of the SGC, but that wasn't much of an issue in this reality. Miranda had acquired the tech in trade with Stargate Command and it was a testament to her skills with words that she'd been able to get such potentially dangerous technology for my group's use.

"Cameron!" I called out.

My bodyguard moved from the entrance to the Cosmic Warehouse, were she'd been keeping guard, and came over to me.

"Yes, Master?" she said, while giving me a short bow.

I didn't think I would ever get use to people talking to me that way, but if she'd asked I would have admitted to my Terminator that her calling me Master was rather sexy.

"There's an errand I need you to run for me" I told her "I want you to visit Morgana's and Merlin's rooms. Remain out of phase as much as possible, and obtain me some of their hair. Then do the same for all the highest ranking knights of Camelot".

She didn't question me, but I explained my reasoning anyway.

"I want to check out the DNA of magic users to see if its a genetic trait, if it is then I can gift it to people" I told her "As for the knights, I may need a clone army one day and they'll make suitable templates".

They were strong, loyal and decent warriors so I could do worse than clone them for an army, should I ever need to.

"I'll return soon" was all Cameron had to say on the matter.

As she left I thought about how this task while odd suited my Terminator as she was an infiltration model, so sneaking about and blending in when required in order to complete an objective was her fortee.

"Cortana open up your files on future Jumps" I instructed "Access the Clone Wars Jump".

Once she'd done that I gave her the outline of a plan I had for that possible Jump which involved starting of at Tatooine and then buying the planet from Jabba the Hutt before turning the world into a place suitable to join the Republic. Tatooine was one of the possible starting points on that Jump and it seemed a good a place as any to begin. The planet had plenty of potential in my view.

This new plan of mine involved using time dilation technology to build up all the industry and infrastructure within a period ranging from six months to a year, however since I'd be outside the field only a few hours would pass for me. No sense wasting up a tenth of the time in that setting just building up when I could outsource the work to Miranda who thrived on important projects.

Once everything on Tatooine was ready I'd buy slaves from the Hutts in bulk and assign them jobs in the factories that would build many useful devices that I would sell the galaxy, while always keeping the best stuff for myself. Slaves would be required to work until they'd paid off the cost of buying them, and then be free to leave or stay as they chose.

I could use some of the memory tech I'd gained over the years to rapidly teach people how to do their jobs, although their work wouldn't be too complex since I'd use bots for the difficult as well as dangerous stuff, and I'd buy slaves that already had useful skills. I wanted to use people because as the infrastructure grew I'd need more people, which would allow to buy some slaves and set them up with better lives. There was no sense having a productive and prosperous world if there was no one around to enjoy it.

Then once I had a world that was populated and prosperous I'd contact the planet of Naboo, and use them to sponsor my worlds entry into the Republic. This would allow me to make contact with Padme Amidala, who would either be Senator or still Queen at that point.

An experienced diplomat could be useful to me and stealing Anakin Skywalker's future wife for myself would be amusing. I was sure that I could recruit her as I had much to offer, and she cared deeply for her people. I could save her beloved Republic in exchange for her joining my harem. Plus she shouldn't be too young for me a few years after the Blockade of Naboo, but even if she was I could still recruit her later after laying the groundwork.

Once I had the attention of the senate I'd be able to introduce new tech and warn them about future dangers, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, since I'd be going to a Star Wars Legends universe not the Disney one. I knew the Legends Star Wars Universe so much better.

I'd tell the Republic the truth, from a certain point of view, letting them know that my group was from another galaxy, and that we'd come to explore their galaxy while helping out while we could. Between the political stuff I'd have time to have some fun, doing stuff like battling pirates, checking out different worlds, and living the high life. Also I wanted to bed a Twi'lek or three,

For sure I'd find a way to kill Palpatine, his Sith powers wouldn't protect him from beaming technology as it didn't exist in that universe, but I'd have to be careful as not only was he dangerous he was also the head of state and killing them tended to get you in trouble.

I'd have to track down and kill Dooku as well, again without anyone finding out that it was me behind the deaths, and if things went wrong, well there were plenty of places to hide out, I could set up a base in a totally different galaxy if needs be. Maybe I'd explore a few of those galaxies while I was there.

Plus there were other darksiders, but with Bane's line of Sith snuffed out the Jedi could handle them, and with the source of that galaxy's corruption removed I could focus my efforts on dealing with problems in the Outer Rim parts of the galaxy. Which would expand my influence.

Since I wouldn't be trying to uplift many worlds, I'd simply be able to sell suitable technology to improve lives, I wouldn't be spending so much trying to build a galactic government, as one already existed, my group could use everything we'd learned from setting up the Confederation to make Tatooine a bright center of the universe. As least as much as it was possible.

Acquiring Skywalker's mother was vitally important as I might need her as a bartering tool should Anakin ever become an issue for me. Besides from that I might as well save her from her terrible fate by ensuring her safety. Which would mean getting rid of the Sand People, or at least relocating to them to a part of the planet very far away from the settlements.

Also since my group already very advanced tech we wouldn't need to spend so much time flying about trying to acquire every gizmo ever seen. I could instead go to different worlds simply to see them, which would be very nice for me.

I foresaw that the Hutts would likely try to reclaim the planet once I had made it more advanced and productive, however if they did resort to using force they'd only be able send mercs and bounty hunters against my military might. This was not something that greatly concerned me, and if needs be I'd destroyed the Hutt cartel, and take over Hutt space.

Of course I wouldn't be able to hold onto all those worlds, and I couldn't simply let them descend into anarchy either, hence why I'd need Republic aid, as they could take over the care of those worlds. Or I could just kill some of the Hutts and let them keep their space while answering to me, this would allow me improve things without straining my resources so much.

I finished outlining my plan before too long, as fun as it was to do that sort of thing I really should get some sleep sometime soon.

"So Star Wars for the next Jump?" Cortana asked me.

It could very well be so.

"I have many years before I have to make that choice" I said to the AI "And I want a Jump that the whole group can get behind, but there's no harm in planning ahead".

At some point I might even wake everyone up from stasis and run the idea by them, but there was no rush. I had plenty to do in this world in the meantime.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The marketplace was crowded and dirty, the ground had turned to mud thanks to the early morning rainfall and the passage of some many people, and while this city was cleaner than it should be, that didn't mean that my boots weren't going to need a good clean. Lucky for me Cameron didn't seem to mind hard work, in fact if she seemed to enjoy doing chores for me, not that I could be sure that she ever actually enjoyed anything.

While it was tempting to return to the Citadel and do some more reading I couldn't spend all my time locked up in my room, only leaving for official events and practice sessions, if nothing else people would start to wonder what I was doing in there all the time, and the less attention I attracted the better. So I was out and about.

I'd gone to large outdoor markets like this before on planets in the Stargate verse, and aside from the lack of weapons the market here in Camelot really wasn't that different, at least in the sense that it was filled with people trying to sell me stuff that I didn't need.

Because I had access to replicators I had no need of fine linens and cloths, or even silks from far off lands. Nor did I require the fleeces of sheep, or hides from cattle. I did not desire any wine, which was expensive here as if nothing else glass wasn't cheap to make, and I had no desire to buy barrels of ale or mead.

I'd not gotten drunk in a good long while and I wasn't even sure that I could as I'd altered my body so much over the years that I couldn't even be sure that booze would affect me like it did a human. I should test how my body chemistry would react to alcohol. I'd sipped some wine recently, but even somewhat dangerous stuff could be harmless in moderation.

A lot of the stalls sold the necessities of life, a surprisingly wide of foodstuffs, include fresh fruit, such as pears, apples, or plums, and many types of vegetables, eggs, butter, and a few kinds of meat. Goose meat was a common sight at this market, but in my time it wasn't often seen nor was pheasant. At least not be me. I avoided eating pigeon as I knew them to be flying rats.

Of course they lacked food preservatives other than salt and they didn't have refrigeration so I only ate local food that was served at royal feasts or that Cameron brought me. She protected me from more than physical threats, and I had feeling that at meal times she watched the kitchen staff with great interest.

I walked past a stall that had seemed to cater towards those who had a bit more money than the average peasant, the merchant sold rugs, jugs, wooden carvings of moderate quality, and other items my eyes on only skimmed over.

My attention was soon diverted to a jewelry stand. Which were not like the jewelry stores of my time, which tended to be filled with overpriced mass produced shiny stuff, instead every piece for sale was handmade my a craftsmen who'd spent years mastering his craft.

In addition to basic forms of personal jewellery such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches, that were common enough in what I thought of as modern times, medieval jewellery often included a range of other forms less often found in modern jewellery stores, such as fittings and fasteners for clothes including, buckles, and buttons, as well as what I mentally labelled as hat badges, decorations for belts, weapons, purses and other accessories, and decorated pins, mostly for holding hairstyles and head-dresses in place.

My attention was drawn to neck chains carried a variety of pendants, from crosses, which I was certain would become more common in the years to come to symbols totally unknown to me. I was pretty sure that none of them would be symbols of mystical importance given where this market was located.

I was thinking of buying Morgana a present, as a sign of my affection towards her, and I'd come to this stall because jewellery was a very important marker of social status, and most prosperous women had to have the best stuff.

However I had not seeked a goldsmith for the best stuff as I didn't want it to seem as if I was courting Morgana, at least not yet. Sending her a small gift of jewelry, something made of amber, jet, or freshwater pearls would be more suitable and not earn me the king ire.

"How about this?" I asked Cameron

She examined the bracelet that was made out of amber and silver, I thought it was pretty, as much as I could admire something that way. Since I could easily replicate stuff like this it no worth to me, and I valued knowledge far more than anything material.

"It's shiny" was all she had to say on the matter.

That was good enough for me.

"You should buy something for the others" Cameron advised.

By 'others' she meant the women I had in stasis, and of course she was right, a nice gift would show them that I'd been thinking about them while off on my own. However since I could replicate them as much jewelry as they could ever want without ever spending a penny, it seemed silly to pay for the stuff.

The only reason I was buying Morgana a gift rather than designing and making something with virtual construction, was because I needed to be seen out and about. Also if she liked an item I got her she might seek out more like it and that would be hard if it was replicated.

Perhaps I could buy something now and then use the stuff to practice enhancement on, something they could wear that offered a form of mystical protection. But stuff like that must take years to learn how to enchant such things. Still I had plenty of time, so for now I'd just pick up something for Morgana.

I ended up selecting something that was made out of very colourful opals, which seemed nice enough to me. Hopefully her ladyship would also approve of it.

(Line Break)

 **Helva. Albion.**

While the Stragoth mimicry device attached to my chest was all the disguise I needed, this hadn't stopped me from having a little fun with the way I appeared. I'd decided to go for the whole dark knight look, with black armour made from a metal called trinium, which existed naturally in the Stargate verse and even there it was a rare mineral.

Trinium was one of those materials that couldn't be replicated even when you could combine Federation, Asgard and Ancient technology, however the material could be created in small amounts by the Matter Furnace, and then sculpted into the right shape using virtual construction technology.

Plus it helped that I could replicate dense materials such as lead and then feed the metal directly into the Matter Furnace, which was much easier than scooping up space matter, such as rocks and ice. Thus making enough trinium for one suit of armour was simple enough.

This had involved me having to learn how all the different parts of a suit medieval body armour were forged and how it all fit together, but for me that hadn't been much work, not when I had medieval blacksmiths to question and books on the subject to consult. The royal library back at the Citadel was very impressive given the time period. Books were very expensive before the printing press was invented, and yet Camelot's library had an extensive collection.

Cameron was of course with me, but she'd decided to stay out of phase so that no would notice her presence unless she came back into phase in order to deal with some threat to me. Not that she needed to worry as I was currently protected my many layers of defence, some were more physical the others.

So far I wasn't impressed by this city, compared to Camelot it was dirty, but not as filthy as a real medieval city would be, and it did smell too bad, but it had too many poor people, and there were no magical wonders around. A place were magic was practiced openly should have hovering buildings, or something remarkable. The sheer mudanness of the settlement was very disappointing.

Camelot had no people openly practicing magic, but it was a nicer, cleaner place to live, that contained people who had a better standard of living. That much became clear to me very quickly, even the clothing was of lower quality here.

Despite the poverty there were some trinkets for sale, stuff that was noticeable Celtic to my eyes. This included Celtic knots, which were called Icovellavna, which were a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration. Some of them were mystical symbols so I wouldn't wear them openly in Camelot. Not that I intended to buy any as my gold needed to be sace for more valuable purchases.

"Excuse me" I said to an elderly woman, who didn't shy away from me, possibly because she was too short sighted to notice what I looked like "Can you direct me to someone who deals in magical items or book?".

She held out her hand and I placed a large gold coin within her wrinkled grasp. With surprising quickness the money vanished and I was directed to a building that was again disappointing in its normalness. I stepped inside the poorly lit interior and looked around.

There was more disappointment within, there were no skulls with dribbly candles, and not much in the way of books either. I did see some curtains that could be hiding something, however I didn't bother them in case it upset the owner of this business. However since he had an armoured knight in his store he was already on edge, and his nervousness was understandable.

Since it didn't look as the if the store owner was going to be very helpful, I decided to help myself by taking all the books I could find. I planned to pay for them before I placed them in my expanded bag. I didn't even know if any of the books would be useful to me, but since I could just replicate more gold coins it hardly mattered how much money I spent.

As for the other stuff here, well some of it could be handy, but since I knew nothing about any of it, and the business owner was not looking talkative, I decided to leave it for now. I could always come back once I understood more about magic, and could filter out the good stuff from the crap.

Besides I had to get back soon as there soon would be some peace talks and if memory served there was suppose to be an outbreak of disease before that happened, only it had not. Which made sense as my magical tutor wouldn't want to risk killing her only ally within Camelot by employing biological warfare.

I gathered up the books, placed them in my expanded pouch and then dropped a bag of gold coins on the counter. While the owner of this place was distracted I had outside to find a quiet place to beam out from.


	10. Chapter 10

**Reviews**

 **Joe Lawyer**

I do have some fun ideas for things the Jumper can encounter in this world, I have ten years to cover so I can fit in a lot of crazy stuff.

Gothic will have new companions in this story.

 **Selias**

Well there are a plenty of anti-magical materials in fiction. One will serve I'm sure.

 **Charles Ceaser**

Poor Merlin, he really is a punching bag.

 **Jump Chain 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 10**

 **Training Grounds. Camelot.**

"Have you ever tried using a quarterstaff?" I asked Merlin

For reasons I couldn't fully understand the prince seemed to bent on either turning his manservant into a warrior or publicly humiliating him every chance that he got. I suspected it was the later, but really it could be a mixture of the two. Arthur had his good qualities, but at times he was also a prick, worse he was a royal prick so you couldn't just call him out on it.

Of course it didn't help that he was actually smarter than he looked, braver than any sane man should be, and the best swordsmen in Camelot. Plus he had this habit of willingly putting himself in danger in order to protect the people he cared about, even if it wasn't suppose to care about them.

Perhaps I was a better fighter, but I'd been genetically engineered and altered by Jump Chain's bodymods it wasn't really fair to compare me to a baseline human. If Arthur could even be considered a normal human given his magical origins.

"I think I've had enough of weapons for today" the young warlock replied.

Rather than try to convince him I went over to a rack and took two staffs, one of which I passed to the sorcerer. He caught it easily enough.

"Trust me" I said, while spinning the staff "You don't need a sword to fight a in battle, and you don't need to kill people to be a fighter. Besides if you're going to following Arthur into danger then you need to know how to protect yourself".

Merlin tried to spin the staff, however he lost his grip and dropped the length of wood. He was a little clumsy, lanky too, he didn't really have the physical build for a weapon like a sword or an axe, you need muscle for that, but what mattered most was the willingness to kill.

I'd never enjoyed killing, and sometimes knowing that I'd left a trail of bodies scattered across several universes did keep up at night, but I accepted that I had blood on my hands, and overall I'd far more good than harm.

Merlin was no killer, so the quarterstaff would serve him well as a weapon as it could be used to put an enemy down without requiring him to use lethal force. Plus what was a wizard without his staff?

"Hold it like this" I instructed.

I showed him the correct way to hold the quarterstaff, and how to grip it right so that it couldn't be easily knocked out of his hands.

"As with any fighting technique, your initial stance is of fundamental importance, with the right footing you'll be successful in your attempts to either attack an enemy or defend yourself" I told Merlin while checking out his stance "Your feet should be a little wider apart with one foot in front of the other. You should be facing your opponent with your dominant foot closer to him and your other foot behind you in support".

By now some of the knights had gathered around to watch.

"Ignore them and focus on me" I instructed "Now the most common attack with a quarterstaff is the downward strike. So the best place to start is learning to defend yourself against the downward strike".

Right a way I figured that teaching this young man any fighting skills would take some time, but time I had in excess.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The King of Camelot sat on his throne while facing the entrance to the large chamber, as people began to enter the massive room, which was often used for feasting and other social functions. In this view the past few days had been tiring, but still productive.

The treaty, like all others of its kind, had not been that difficult to create as the actual documents were handled by skilled scribes, though it took long, arduous hours of negotiations before anything could be agreed upon and then written down.

There had been the usual arguments over plots of land, the wording of old treaties and such nonsense, mostly the rehashing of debates that should have ended years ago, however the king had with his normally more limited patience, been able to bring things to a satisfactory ending.

Uther watched as his son and his ward, who was actually his daughter, enter the hall and started mingling with the other nobles. He was pleased to see that both of his children were behaving themselves this evening. Morgana was using her winning smile and kind words to flatter some foreign nobles while Arthur stood with his knights, who were a not so subtle reminder the Camelot had the finest warriors in the land to defend the kingdom, and to carry out the king's will.

As he had predicted, Bayard insisted on a speech before they could actually begin the banquet. Uther had to fight not to roll his eyes or show any other outward sign of his boredom. After the last couple of days the king could barely stand to hear the man talk and would be glad when the man was gone.

Bayard gestured to one his advisors, Lord someone of somewhere, who promptly handed over an ornate wooden box. Uthur's interest was finally peaked. Bayard wasn't known for his generosity.

"For this momentous occasion, I commissioned these chalices," Bayard said, lifting a beautifully crafted, silver cup out of the box. "To commemorate the start of a strong friendship between our two nations"

He handed Uther and Arthur both a chalice, and the king had to admit, at least to himself that they were well made, he had a moment to inspect the cups as servants rushed forward to fill them with wine.

"To friendship," Bayard said, while holding up his own cup, "and a new alliance."

Everyone in the hall held up their cup in a toast, and repeated the toast, the king was about to take a sip of wine when someone shouted.

"Stop!"

Uther turned to see his son's idiotic manservant, the boy Merlin charge into the room.

"Merlin, you fool, what do you think you're doing?" Arthur asked.

"Your highness, don't drink, it's poisoned," Merlin warned,

The wine came from his personal cellar, this the king was sure of, and they were all drinking it, so why only warn his son? This made no sense.

"Preposterous!" Bayard protested, while glaring fiercely at the servant.

Most of the people here didn't know how to react.

"What are you on about, you buffoon?" Arthur said anger in his voice "Have you been at the cider again?".

"My lords, please, the cup is poisoned!" Merlin loudly declared.

That gave the king pause. The boy seemed so sure, and the Prince now seemed to be concerned rather than embarrassed.

"Uther, do you let your servants speak to nobility like this?" Bayard demanded.

The king got up and took the cup from his son.

"Are you certain?" the ruler of Camelot asked.

"I am absolutely certain the cup is poisoned" he said

The servant was now looking more confident than a mere boy ever should.

"If the boy is so certain, maybe he should drink?" Uther said to Bayard "If he's right then I'll have the pleasure of killing you myself".

Arthur protested, but he was ignored.

"What if there is no poison?" Bayard asked, holding his head high.

Uther wasn't overly concerned about the fate of a manservant.

"Then you may do with the boy as you please" the king said.

Merlin drank, and at first nothing seemed to happen. Then just when the crowd began to relax the lad began to choke.

"Guards!" Uther shouted. "Seize them all!"

While the king oversaw the arrests of Bayard and his men, Arthur paid no mind to the chaos around them, having run to Merlin's side almost before he'd hit the ground. A moment later Gaius kneeled next to them.

"Get him to my chambers!" the healer ordered "And someone grab that cup!".

With Merlin in his arms Arthur ran towards the physician's chambers. He got there in record time and was told by Gaius to put the young man on the cot.

"He's struggling to breathe," the physician said.

Morgana's handmaiden had followed, no doubt deeply concerned for her friend.

"Gwen, fetch me some water and a towel. Arthur, I need the cup" the healer said.

Both of the young people raced out of the room which gave Gaius enough time to try a bit of healing magic, but his power's weren't great enough to help the young warlock.

When Gwen rejoined them she used a towel and water to cool Merlin's face. The lad was sweating as if he had a fever.

"You can cure him, can't you, Gaius?" she asked anxiously.

This was when the prince re-entered the room.

"Not until I identify the poison," the old man replied as he got up to inspect the goblet.

Soon Gaius mentioned a flower stuck on the inside of the goblet, so Arthur went over to look, while the healer sought out information on the plant.

"It's the petal of the morteus flower," Gaius said as he peered at one of his books.

Apparently, whoever got poisoned by that flower could only be cured with a leaf from the same plant. Which, incidentally, only grew in the forest of Balor, on the roots of a morteus tree.

Arthur was about to volunteer to go after it, when his father strode in.

"Gaius, what's his condition?" he asked without preamble.

Uther couldn't allow himself to care about the boy, but the fates of two kingdoms were at stake here, the king had to have all the facts.

"It doesn't look good, sire. He needs the leaf of a very rare plant, that only grows in the forest of Balor" the healer replied.

Uther was not pleased to hear. After all he didn't wish the boy to die as he'd again saved the life of the prince, but he wasn't willing to risk the lives of his kingdom's defenders on a dangerous quest, not when they might soon be at war.

"That place is crawling with dangerous creatures, not to mention the difficult terrain," he said.

Arthur stepped forward.

"I'll go and retrieve the plant, father," he volunteered.

"No," his father said, in a tone that should have allowed no protest. "I'll not have you endanger your life, Arthur".

The two Pendragons began to argue.

"No, and that's final!" the king shouted as the heated debated died down "you're staying here!"

And with that he swept out of the room. Everything was silent in the physician's chambers for all of a heartbeat.

"How long does she have?" Arthur asked.

The healer consulted the book once again.

"The morteus flower induces a slow and painful death" the old man answered "If he doesn't receive the antidote, he may hold out for three or four days, but… after that, he'll die".

Arthur didn't care what his father said, he would not let Merlin die.

"I'll be back soon," he whispered, before striding out of the room.

(Line Break)

 **Wilderness. Albion.**

"Head into the cave, your highness" I said to the prince "I'll stay with the woman".

I'd decided to accompany this royal pain in this ass on his quest to get some plant that would cure Merlin. I might have been able to cure the young warlock with my near-ascended powers, however that would be hard to hide, and I had no idea if I could counter the magic involved.

As soon as Arthur was gone Nimueh's changed her demeanor very quickly, now she no longer looked like some poor woman who had been attack, she instead looked liked the dangerous bitch that she actually was.

"You're protecting him" my teacher said.

To me it didn't sound as if she was upset. If anything she seemed amused by my actions.

"He's a twat at times, but a decent one" I said "He just wants to save his friend".

Which he would find much easier without Nimueh sabotaging his efforts. Hopefully I could get her to leave and then go help him. It would be good if we had more than one of the plants as if I remembered correctly Uther would try to prevent his son from curing Merlin in order to teach some sort of lesson. Not that it would make a difference, but there was no sense letting the young warlock suffer if all I had to do was go into the cave and grab some flower.

"His friend wasn't my target" Nimueh told me.

Despite the fact that she'd never tried to destroy Camelot through disease in this time line she'd still come to Camelot with the intention of ruining the peace talks. She was obsessed with avenging all those Uther had killed, but she sucked at it. Her plots only harmed the innocent, and made Uther even more vigilant in efforts to stamp out magic.

"If you want to hurt the king, then hurt him" I said "Take him captive and torture or something like that, but don't bring the rest of Camelot into it".

Well I knew that my words would almost certainly fall on deaf ears I had to try.

"Uther didn't act alone when he began the Purge" Nimueh said "He couldn't have".

True the king had been supported by the nobles when he began hunting down all things magical. He'd needed their troops and their wealth to fund the campaign. None of the knights I worked and trained with, including Arthur, were old enough to have taken part in the Great Purge, but the High Priestess clearly didn't care about that.

"If you ever want magic to have a place in Camelot then you can't keep using it to harm innocent people" I argued "You'll only drive Uther to cruller acts and worse you'll make Arthur hate magic too. If you want things to change then you have to consider the bigger picture".

So many otherwise intelligent people seemed incapable of understanding that their actions could have long consequences that would not benefit anyone. However this time someone was at least considering my words. Which was a nice change.

"Very well I'll depart" she decided "But remember my student that I did you this favour".

She muttered a few words, and there was a gust of wind which surrounded the witch. It seemed to turn her into air as well before carrying her off. It took like a very strange way to teleport I'd stick to Asgard beaming tech.

(Line Break)

 **Cave. Albion.**

He had to hang on. It was too dark to see any handholds, and Arthur had a feeling that the creepy spider he'd seen earlier creature had some friends around here, but there was nothing he could do about that. He just had to hang on.

Just when he thought he was either going to hang there until he lost all strength in his arms, or until he was eaten by those creatures, something lit up behind him. It was a bluish light, and far too steady to be a torch.

"Sir Gothic!" he called out.

Arthur risked a quick glance over his shoulder and saw something unexpected. An orb of blue light floated there, almost serenely, and he couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful is was.

"Climb," a voice whispered.

"What? Who's there?" he shouted.

"Climb. Quick," the voice whispered.

It tugged at something in the back of his mind, like he should recognise it, but he couldn't place it. Not that it mattered he didn't have much choice except to follow it's command. Arthur thought that he could hear the scuttling of those spider creatures somewhere beneath him, and he had no desire to get any closer to them.

Looking up, he saw the small yellow flower he needed. He reached for it, but couldn't quite make it.

"Leave it," the voice pleaded.

He could not Arthur had made a promise to himself that he would get that flower and take it back to Camelot, and he wasn't about to give up now. Scooting over slightly, he reached for it again, and this time, managed to grab it.

"Quickly," the voice urged, as Arthur put the plant in a pouch at his belt.

The light floated closer, and light showed him parts of the rockface that he could be used as handholds, and Arthur set to work. It took quite a while to reach the top, and the silence was only broken by the sound of the creatures and the urges of the orb.

After what felt like hours to his tired arms there was some light instead of sheer darkness, and Arthur knew he was almost out of there. With some luck, those creatures didn't like the outside too much. They didn't seem the sunshine type to the prince.

Arthur crawled out of the cave, and into the light of a setting sun. He didn't want to move anymore, but there was a scuttering sound, and the prince figured that the spider creatures would leave their home if it was dark enough.

"Go," the Orb whispered.

Once more, Arthur had the feeling that he knew that voice, and that he could trust it. He just didn't understand why. Regardless, he did have to get up and find Sir Gothic, as well as the horses, he really didn't want to walk back even if time wasn't a concern.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Merlin has recovered" Cameron told me as she entered my chambers.

I put down the book that I'd not been able to focus on and rubbed my tired eyes. The last few days had been filled with bad feelings. I'd managed to get the prince home with the plant he'd needed, and to get to to court healer guy without the king seeing, but Arthur had been locked up. Worse than the the people were worried that we would soon be at war.

"Good" I then said "He's a nice lad he deserves better than to die because of some plot".

Cameron's face now looked thoughtful.

"Few people get what they deserve" she said.

That was true, and perhaps I could help Merlin have a better life. It wouldn't cost me much to bring a little happiness his way.

"I'll send himself some sweet to eat" I decided.

Charity was knightly virtue so sending someone who'd been on death's door something to help make them feel better wouldn't seem wrong. Besides both Merlin and I had magic so might not be such a bad idea for us to become friends, or at least we should avoid becoming enemies.

I would later talk to my cyborg protector about Nimueh, when we were inside the warehouse, about how she seemed to think that I owed her something. She was going to ask me for a favour soon I could sense it, and somehow I didn't think that it would be something as simply as me giving her a foot rub or pick up her dry cleaning.

"Any news about the war?" I asked.

Bayard and his men had been locked up by Uther, and while I'd explained to the prince about the woman we'd encountered having magical powers, and I was sure that Gaius would tell the king that magic was involved in the poisoning, that might not be enough to divert war. It depended if Uther could do something to allow Bayard to save face, or maybe the king could compensate the visitor somehow.

"It seems have to worked out for the best" Cameron told me "According to the gossip down in the kitchens".

The gossip was normally right, and here like anywhere else in the universe it seemed to spread faster than any virus.

"Well let's keep our fingers crossed" I said "And hopefully we won't be at war next week".

I'd seen enough of war to know that there no real glory it, and that it should be avoided when at all possible. Alas other people just didn't seem to grasp that.


	11. Chapter 11

**skelly4128**

Now that is a good idea. A spinning wheel would be of great use in Camelot.

 **Iskandr**

The time dilation field doesn't need to affect the whole planet. The Cloister in Stargate Atlantis only covered part of a world, and caused no harmful effects. Coruscant is home to trillions but Gothic is only going to need a few million people at most so a single city should do. I was thinking of something with massive protective domes, and with time dilation he put up new domes very quickly as needed on different parts of the planet.

 **Charles Ceaser**

I liked your idea of someone from his lands, I think you meant the lands he owns, but I went with someone from his family coming to Camelot. Jumper Gothic hasn't had to deal with pretending that someone is a relative that he's suppose to care about before now.

 **Joe Lawyer**

Don't forget the lesson taught to us by Faust, who I mentioned before, all that power and knowledge didn't help him. Besides there's no point learning if you already know everything, nothing would challenge him, and it would be very boring.

Also he does have plenty of people he can consult if he needs more knowledge. Nimueh, the Great Dragon, there's a creature called the Dochraid he can also approach for information, that's risky but it might be worth it.

The Star Wars Jump won't be as focused on improving things as the Stargate one. Once the Sith are removed Jumper Gothic can focus more on enjoying what that galaxy has to offer.

I was thinking of using domes on Tatooine. Terraforming isn't something you want to do a planet while there are people on it.

Actually I don't think having the Force is the best idea. It doesn't offer him much that he can't do with his Near-Ascended powers or with magic, I think it would be interesting for him not to obtain the Force Sensitivity because that is what other Jumpers would do.

If I do a Harry Potter Jump it would be after Star Wars. That could be a good setting for Jumper Gothic and Morgana to have fun in. But that wouldn't be written any time soon as I don't want to write a Harry Potter story the world doesn't hold much interest for me these days.

The Planeswalker spark is the grand prise, but Jumper Gothic is no rush to get it.

Why bother with blood. Your hair contains your DNA and is much easier to get at.

Nimueh is a High Priestess so its very unlikely that Jumper Gothic could learn her more advanced spells.

 **Jump Chain 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 11**

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

Once more in the dead of night Cameron and I were within in the Cosmic Warehouse working to take advantage of this Jump while others slept. Compared to other Jumps I didn't do much work these days as the demands of a Camelot Knight were nothing compared to past positions I'd held, but I was still grateful for the fact that I didn't need to sleep for eight hours straight. I could get by on less rest than most people.

However even if that hadn't been the case I wouldn't have been able to get much sleep this night as I'd just stolen a very powerful magical item called the Crystal of Neahtid from the vaults below the Citadel. If I'd been caught it would have meant a great deal of trouble for me, so I was very glad for phase cloaks, and replicators, which had allowed to me to steal the crystal and replace with an identical yet non-magical replica.

The Crystal of Neahtid was a very powerful instrument of magic and an important artifact of the Old Religion. According to my sources, which were more than just memories of the show now that I had so many books, there were many legends about the Crystal.

Some sorcerers who had lived in the past believed it held the secret of time itself. To those who know how to use it, the Crystal holds great knowledge: knowledge of what is, what has been and what is yet to come. Through it you could see so many things.

During the Great Purge many sorcerers died trying to protecting this crystal so I figured that it must be somewhat holy to followers of the Old Religion. Which made sense given that it came from the Crystal Cave which was believed to be the very source of magic in this world.

In the show the powerful warlocks, Alvarr and Mordred, persuaded Morgana to steal the Crystal from the vaults beneath the Castle. They would have used its power to destroy Camelot and kill Uther; however, Arthur was able to defeat Alvarr and take back the Crystal.

While the Crystal was soon returned to Camelot and the vaults, along the way it compelled Merlin to look at it and the young warlock was forced see to the future. He saw a vision of Kilgharrah destroying Camelot. Yet he wasn't able to prevent this from happening, in fact he caused it to happen, so seeing the vision didn't help him at all, it only upset him.

It was important to note that the Crystal could only be used by very powerful sorcerers, like Merlin and maybe people like Mordred, or Morgana. My magical tutor would no doubt be able to use this artefact, but she did have her own powers of foretelling so this Crystal might not be of much use to her.

Considering that she was unable to foresee the Great Purge or her possible death at the hands of a certain warlock I had doubts about the art of foretelling, it didn't seem very useful to me, however seeing the future wasn't why I'd taken the magical object. It could see things that had happened, and things that were happening right now. As such it could be a great tool for spying on people, or for finding stuff.

"Do you think you'll be able to use it?" Cameron asked me.

I'd already told her all about the history and abilities of this hunk of pretty rock. She had no faith in the mystical powers of a crystal, but she was a machine, her actions were dictated by her programming and logic. She didn't have my Magical Sensitivity Perk, and therefore she could not sense the power of the item I held in my hands. I was pretty certain this object was more powerful than even my sword.

"Truthfully I don't know" I admitted to the Terminator "I'm sensitive to magic sure, and that should help, on the other hand I'm lacking in the power department".

I gave the matter some more thought.

"If nothing else I should keep it so that it can't be used against Camelot" I said to Cameron "And perhaps in the years to come I'll find a way to tap into the the crystal's power".

There were other ways for me to increase my powers if I so desired. I was sure I'd get around the exploring them sooner or later. For now I had to deal with one of my responsibilities, and it was another reason why I wouldn't have gotten a full eight hours this night.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Morgana slept, alas she did not sleep well. What should have been a time for resting was ruined for her by the most terrible of dreams. Outwardly she tossed and turned, ruffling her covers as much as her nightdress, as her body moved in response to the nightmare she was currently having.

Within in her own mind she saw someone running, and she could hear their panicked cries as they ran to what they thought of as safety. The young woman, a girl really, fled for her life. She was very scared, and Morgana felt that fear as her own.

Sadly the young woman was not able to successfully flee from danger. Whatever it was the girl had been running from caught up with her. The young woman fell to the ground, and as she struggled so did Morgana, she felt as if it was her hands that were futility attempting to fight off an attacker, yet in reality her arms only moved through the empty space above her bed.

Then Morgana felt pain as the young woman she was seeing her dreams was killed in a horrible way. It wasn't a slow death, but neither was a quick one, and the King's ward could feel the victim's life draining away as if it was her own. When the poor girl died the Seer awoke with a scream.

Even as she fought to control her breathing, and looked around to see that she in fact was not in any danger, Morgana couldn't help checking herself for wounds. She was not bleeding, the moisture covering her body turned out to be nothing more than sweat.

While she'd been lying down for hours now, the body of the noble lady seemed to have been out running, her legs were cramped, her hair was matted, and her nightdress had become sticky due to her physical form having become overheated despite the fact that it was a cool night.

Lying back the Seer knew that she was in for another restless night, but what she could do? The sleeping draughts no longer had any effect on her, and the nightmares were becoming more vivid as she grew older. If was as if they were growing stronger.

If only there was someone she could talk to be about this, it would make her feel better for sure. Saldy that wasn't possible, she could confide in no-one, not even her trustworthy maid, and it was the loneliness more than anything else that made Morgana wish she could be more normal, alas that simply wasn't meant to be.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

While even this kingdom, which was full of good people who were much better off than the medieval peasants of my world ever were, happened to be a peaceful place it still had its problems, as all societies did. They couldn't be avoid and some couldn't be solved, they could only be handled.

Crime was one of these problems, and when magic of some kind wasn't involved, criminal activity was normally limited to petty thievery and the odd bar brawl, now and again there was something a bit more serious. That was the rulers of this land took action. Someone would investigate, and any criminals caught would be brought before the king for his judgement.

One of the most serious of all crimes. perhaps the most serious, had taken place recently, the murders of two young woman, and since the last killing had happened close to the citadel the King had wisely chosen to increase security, and not just for the castle. The whole town was under what felt like marshall law.

For me this meant a few late night patrols of the castle. Which involved walking around with a lantern that barely provided enough light to see with. Not the most glamours of jobs to be sure, not when compared to the careers I'd had, but I didn't mind.

My job wasn't actually to look for intruders, as the castle was far too big for anyone person to watch over, instead my task was to ensure that the royal residence was kept secure. Which meant that I needed to do stuff like check the locks, make sure the guards weren't napping on the job, and ensure that no was out out of bed when they shouldn't be.

That last part led to me bumping into the Lady Morgana who at first didn't notice me, even though knights weren't exactly easy to miss, when she did see me the noble woman nearly jumped out of her skin, only to relax when she recognised me.

She carried only a small candle, but she carried in front of her and by doing that she'd ruined her nightvision, hence why she hadn't seen me coming. I also noted that she wore her nightclothes under a robe, and that her hair was a mess, which meant she'd woken up recently.

"Sir Gothic" she said "You scared me".

Well that hadn't been my intent.

"I'm sorry my lady" I replied "But you shouldn't be out of your room at this hour. The king's instructions were quite clear on the matter".

Not that I really cared about Uther's orders, I was just playing the part of loyal knight.

"I'm having trouble sleeping" Morgana confessed "I thought a walk might help".

She was a young woman troubled by nightmares that were in fact visions of the future. Her gift, if it could be called that, warned her of danger to come as well as important future events, but she wasn't able to accept this power and she hadn't learned to harness it. So right now it might as well be a curse.

"Let me escort you back to your chambers my lady" I said "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you".

Morgan smiled at me, and when she agreed I used my near-ascended powers to make a wave of pleasure pass through her. I didn't normally manipulate people in such a way, but the sad truth was that Morgana was doomed unless I redirected her life path. Besides I desired her for myself, and as such she had to come to desire me in turn before she'd join my other companions.

"I hear that you often have bad dreams" I mentioned.

While my tone was casual my words had been very carefully chosen. I needed Morgana to open up to me, and this would take time for sure, so right now I didn't think she'd tell me much.

"Yes" she said "I've had them since I was a child".

She didn't speak again for a few moments.

"Gaius tells me that I shouldn't worry myself about them" she told me.

I knew that Gaius downplayed her nightmares because he was trying to protect the young Seer, if Uther discovered that she had the power of prophecy he would consider it to be no different from sorcery, and given his hatred for all things magical he might even have her killed. Of course even Gaius didn't know that Morgana was in fact the king's illegitimate daughter, which might protect her somewhat.

"Well no offense meant to our Court Physician, but I have to disagree" I said "I've travelled far, seen much, studied many things, and in most cultures dreams are considered to be very important. That they help us deal with all the thoughts and emotions we have while we're awake. Our fears can manifest in our dreams and create nightmares. We have to face those fears in order to banish them".

Which I was sure was true for most people, but Morgana was special. Still just having someone to talk to about her dreams might help her.

"Don't ignore your dreams, my lady" I advised "You have them for a reason. Try to figure out what they mean".

She didn't say anything else until we were outside her chambers. I could tell that she was thinking over what I had just been saying.

"If you don't mind I'll check your room before I bid you goodnight" I said.

There had been a couple of murders after all, and both of the victims had been young woman.

"A man alone with me in my chambers" Morgana said with a teasing smile "Sir Gothic that wouldn't be proper"

I returned the smile.

"We can keep the door open while I have a quick look" I said.

Besides we wouldn't actually be alone. Cameron would be close by and out of phase.

"Very well" Morgana agreed.

I did a quick inspection while her ladyship settled herself on the bed, and when she did I couldn't help noticing how tired she looked.

"Sleep" I commanded with a wave of my hand.

The Seer laid down on her bed, going to sleep as if it was something she'd simply decided to do, when in fact I'd just used one of my many near-ascended abilities, to make her rest. It wasn't mind control, what I'd just done was a trick much like what the Lantean Merlin had done to Baal in the Stargate show, I'd taken control of her body rather than her mind.

I'd learned to do that from a near-ascended human who'd lived in the Cloister. She employed that power to make people who were injured go to sleep so that they wouldn't thrash about and make things worse while she was healing their wounds. It also worked on small children who wouldn't go down for naps, however I'd never used the trick for that.

This ability was actually pretty easy for someone to resist unlike other near-ascended powers, only Morgana hadn't even tried to resist because of how tired she was, and people who were hurt or ill didn't tend to have much resistance to outside influences.

During the last Jump I'd discovered much about what a near-ascended human could do, not just from spending time in the Cloister, but also from other sources, and I'd experimented as well. Although I'd been careful when doing that so as not to cause needless harm to anyone.

We were capable of far more than what was seen in the Stargate show, and while it might seem like magic it really wasn't. I understood the difference quite well, magic was a power that was all around us which certain people could tap into while my near-ascended abilities came from within me.

I used another of my near-ascended abilities to heal Morgan. I couldn't do anything about the nightmares, but I could do something about the minor damage caused to her body by the lack of proper rest. The body needed sleep just as the mind did.

Also I suspected that she wasn't eating enough. Hopefully my healing would restore her appetite. The poor woman was too skinny for her own good, and this along with the fact that she seemed even more pale than was normal for her, convinced he that she needed my healing touch.

As for her dream-visions I could do nothing about them, that was a magical matter and I didn't have the knowledge required to handle such things. Any attempt to do so by me could do the young woman harm, so for now all I was able to do was to give some support and help her bare the burden. This I could do by giving her someone to talk to and a little healing.

Once this was done I got up and left, as it would be creepy to stay her and watch her sleep. Besides I had a patrol to finish. On the way out I noticed that my present, a nice bit of jewellery had a spot on her dresser. She'd not thanked me for the gift, which I had entrusted her handmaiden to deliver, however given how distracted she'd been tonight I could easily forgive that.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Arthur paced to and fro in front of the door that led the chambers of the Court Physician, and while he was well aware of his father's frowning face, he couldn't force himself to keep still right now. He was too concerned, he didn't think anything would be able calm him down.

The King looked worriedly at his son. Uther was better able to control himself, however not even he could hide for too long how concerned he was about current events. The recent deaths had the people hiding in their homes due to fear and that was no good for kingdom as it meant that the common folk weren't going to work. Even his soldiers were nervous about going on patrol or manning the battlements.

Which was bad because it might make the kingdom look weak to its enemies and therefore ripe for conquest. Order had to be restores, the people had to be made to feel safe once again. However pacing the corridors wasn't going to help with that,

"It is alarming how the death rate of women in this kingdom is increasing" Uther softly said "I find it hard to believe that we have no explanation for the mysterious deaths of those poor souls".

The two men were waiting for Gaius to finish his work before heading inside the chambers of the older man. The scientific process that the healer used in his investigations was not a quick one, and he needed time as well as peace in order to do his work.

After what felt like hours the door was opened by Merlin who was assisting Gaius at the moment and the two nobles headed inside the room to find the corpse of a woman. The sight of the dead body sent a chill through Arthur's body, but he tried his very best to hide it. If they were to discover the source of mysterious deaths, and bring it to an end, then he must show strength and courage.

"I have identified the cause of death" Gaius told the king and the prince.

The two men peered down at the spot the healer was pointing at. They saw that two small red holes were present on her neck.

"The other victims also had the same mark on their necks," Gaius said gravely "I had never seen such a mark before, but I have consulted my books and I believed I know the source. I suspect that these deaths are the work of a vampire".

Arthur had never heard that word before and he was curiously looking at Uther. However his father also had a look of bafflement on his face.

"A vampire?" the king asked.

Gaius nodded, and reached for a book. He opened it and showed a picture of what looked to be a man, only he had fangs, and there was something inhuman that the prince couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Vampires are creatures that feed on the blood of their victims into order to sustain its unnatural existence" the healer informed "Until now I thought they were just a myth, but it is the only explanation that makes sense".

Gaius read some more from the book.

"The vampire is an undead thing and can not be killed" the healer told the two Pendragons "however some of the stories say that they can be stopped if they are tracked back the coffins they sleep in and staked through the heart with a piece of wood. Sunlight is also said to be lethal to them, but it may only drive them back to their coffins".

The king considered what to do.

"You must find this vampire and drive a stake into its unbeating heart" Uther said to his son "Search the whole town, leave no stone unturned, have everyone looking, and only during the day".

The king then turned to Gaius.

"Find out more about these vampire creatures if you can" he commanded.

Gaius gave the monarch a short bow before returning to work.

(Line Break)

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

Once more I had donned the armour of the black knight. The suit seemed bulky, but in fact it was amazingly lightweight and easy to move around in. This was because it was made from materials that didn't even exist in this universe.

"We're hunting a vampire" I said to Cameron, who was over by the door keeping a watch out for anyone trying to enter my chambers "I spoke to the Great Dragon and he told me that vampires can't be killed, but you can stop them by driving wood into their hearts when they are in the grave, or their coffin".

He'd explained that the stake pinned the vampire to the Earth in a symbolic way and as long as the stake wasn't removed then the vampire would remain dormant. Even sunlight couldn't kill the vampires of this world as they could reform from their ashes come nightfall as long as their resting place remained intact. Which meant that even vaporising the vampire might not be enough.

The dragon hadn't been able to tell me much more as it hadn't needed to deal with any vamps, as they didn't prey on dragons and while the magical beast didn't state it I was fairly certain that his flames would destroy a vampire. However that would be hard to test since I'd need to get the undead thing to the dragon.

I was sure that my magical blade would slay the creature as it could kill anything up a minor god, and Excalibur, which was kin to my Caliburn, had slain a Wraith in the show, which was also an undead thing that couldn't normally be destroyed. I intended to drive my sword into monster to ensure its destruction as I didn't want some idiot grave robber to accidently free the creature sometime in the future.

"Do you have a plan?" my bodyguard asked me.

Indeed I did.

"The vamp is going after young women out at night so I figure that you can wander around while I remain close by while out of phase" I said "Then when the vampire attacks I'll pin it down with my near-ascended powers and stab it with the sword".

Not a brilliant plan, but the most simple of plans were best as it meant there was no less to go wrong.

"There's a curfew" Cameron reminded me "You can get away with wandering around after sunset, I can't".

She had a point there, and she couldn't be bait if some of the guards ended up escorting back to the castle. Even if she wasn't caught I was only assuming the vamp wouldn't be able to sense that she wasn't what she appeared to be. Also it might be able to see me even when I was out of phase, just like the Great Dragon could.

While all that was a concern, this vampire was feeding without even attempting to cover its tracks so I doubted it would be careful when hunting.

"Then we'll have to move quickly" I was now saying "By now I'm sure that Merlin and Arthur have a plan, and they'll muddle through if they have to, but I'd much rather deal with this quickly so as to avoid further deaths".

Plus this wasn't in the show so I couldn't be sure that events would work out as hoped.

"Anywhere idea where to look?" was Cameron's next question "My memory banks don't contain any information on blood sucking creatures of the night".

So her last software update hadn't covered everything. Was Jump Chan not as all knowing and all seeing as she appeared, or had he purposely left some things out in order make things more interesting? That was one of those questions I didn't think I'd ever get any answer for.

"Well if Joss Whedon TV work taught me anything it's that Fox network executives can't be trusted, and that vampires hang around in graveyards".

They also seemed to obsess over petite blond haired teenage girls, but that didn't seem relevant right now.

(Line Break)

 **Graveyard. Camelot.**

As soon as the deed was done Cameron and I phased out of existence so that anyone coming to investigate the noise we'd just been making wouldn't see us. Which was partly a shame as I'd created an impressive suit of armour for my black knight persona, and this rate so few people would ever see me in it. Still that might be for the best.

"I think this is what humans call anticlimactic" Cameron remarked.

While I didn't agree, it had been over fairly quickly. As planned the vamp had attacked Cameron, not realising that she wasn't human, and to be fair why would he think otherwise?, and I'd pinned him to the ground before de-cloaking. Then I'd stabbed the undead thing with Caliburn, ending the foul creature.

Apparently that whole turning into mist thing was either something made up, or it was a trick that the vampire hadn't known, not that it really mattered. In the end it had burned up and then exploded. Which had been both visually impressive and very noisy.

My Magical Sensitivity Perk left me with a feeling that it was really dead and so I decided to trust the feeling rather than go looking for a coffin. Not that I would have to had to look for long as I was in a graveyard.

"Well we had a good if simple plan, a decent amount of knowledge about our target, vastly superior weapons, the element of surprise and a surefire way of destroying our prey" I said to Cameron "Take all of that into account and our easy victory should come as no surprise".

My bodyguard nodded in agreement.

"What do you think will happen next" she was now wondering "You can't tell the king that you killed the blood sucking creature".

Well I could, but I had no proof and the king would wonder how I'd done since the lore of this world stated that vampires could be contained, but never destroyed.

"The vamp killed three people in a week" I said to Cameron "Things will be tense for a few days, and when no one else dies people will start to relax their guard, they'll think that the vampire moved on because the knights were hunting for it".

While its unconfirmed death would worry some people, better that then letting more young women die. I simply couldn't have risked Morgana ending up as one of its meals after going for another midnight stroll.

"Let's head inside" I decided "I've helped enough for one night".

I'd been up late a lot recently so I was going to get an early night for a change. Plus there would be sex with Cameron which was always fun.


	12. Chapter 12

**Jump Chain 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 12**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I laid out what looked like a hand drawn copy of some old plans before the two craftsmen. Both of the men leaned forward, and while they might not be able to read, they could understand the plans easily enough. I'd created the document using information stored on one of the many data discs I had in my Cosmic Warehouse and I'd copied them out by hand.

"This is a recreation of a design I studied during my travels" I told the two men "It's called a spinning wheel and I believe it will be of great help to the seamstresses of this kingdom".

The spinning wheel I was going to try having these men create was from a later part of the Medieval era, called the Saxony spinning wheel meaning that it was quite an advanced bit of technology when compared to what the locals had now. However it was not so advanced that the natives of this world wouldn't be able to build their own version of the design.

According to Cortana's predictions the spinning wheel could increase the productivity of clothes makers by as much as a factor of ten. Which would mean more clothes even for the poor, these clothes would be cheaper to make, and there was always a demand for them so I wouldn't be putting anyone out of work.

I knew that food, clothing and shelter were the three basic necessities for the survival of human beings. I intended to work towards improving the lives of people in these three areas. I'd already made a start in the food department by suggesting to some of the farmers that they should adopt a new system of planting.

The Norfolk four-course system as it was called in my world, was a method of agriculture that involves crop rotation. Unlike other methods such as the three-field system, the Norfolk system doesn't involve a fallow year, but allows the fields to be used all the time. Instead, four different crops are grown in each year of a four-year cycle: wheat, turnips, barley, and clover. It was developed in Norfolk, England as the name suggested.

Crop rotation was important because growing the same crop in the same place for many years in a row (which was a process called monocropping) depleted the soil of certain nutrients. That could lead to fields becoming barren, which could ruin a farmer's livelihood.

With rotation, a crop that leaches the soil of one kind of nutrient is followed during the next growing season by a dissimilar crop that returns that nutrient to the soil or draws a different ratio of nutrients. In addition to that, crop rotation mitigates the buildup of pathogens and pests that often occurs when one species of plant is grown in the same field year after year.

The local farms already employed a two-field rotation, in which half the land was planted in a year, while the other half lay fallow. Then, in the next year, the two fields were reversed. Farmers in Europe transitioned from a two-field crop rotation to a three-field crop rotation during the Middle Ages, but that was centuries away by this point in history.

Since I was a knight, and had the Authority Perk at least a few farmers would be willing to take the risk in trying a new system, and over the next decade while I was still here, I should see an improvement in the yields of farms that adopted my methods, if all went well other farmers would also adopt the practice and increase the amount of food available to all.

While there were other things I could introduce to help improve things, such as Water and Wind Mills, which shouldn't have been invented yet, I didn't want to do too much too quickly as not only would that draw a lot of attention my way, it could also overwhelm people.

"It doesn't look that complex" said Tom the blacksmith "but it's made out of wood not metal".

That was mostly true.

"There are some small metal parts that will require a skilled hand to create" I said to Tom while pointing out the parts on the paper "And I hear your daughter is a talented seamstress. We'll need someone to test the spinning wheel".

The other craftsmen, who was called Bill, would do most of the construction work as he was a man who worked very well with wood. He and men like him had made most of the stuff in this very room. Furniture ranging from chairs to beds. If anyone could create the spinning wheel it would be him.

"I'll need three of these devices made as quickly as possible and I'll pay for the cost of the materials as well as the time" I told the two men before turning to address the blacksmith "I'm sure that once we have a few working that more people will want them. I'd like the first spinning wheel to be given to Gwuenvirne as payment for her help. Someone will need to demonstrate the device to buyers, and I'd like her to perform that task. I'm sure she'll get a lot of use out the machine".

Tom nodded in agreement.

"My girl will help" he promised.

No doubt he was envisioning the wealth he could obtain if this invention took off, he didn't seem like the greedy type and if my memories of the show were correct he'd been thinking more of his daughter's prospects than his own. Which made him more appealing to work with.

Someone knocked on the door and I bidded them to enter, when I saw that it was messenger, I turned back to the two men I'd been talking to.

"Please study the design and get to work as soon as possible" I ordered "Come see me if you need money for materials and such".

The two craftsmen made their way out while the young man, who I knew to be a messenger who made sure people who lived in the place got their letters, which were few and far between compared to amount of post someone could get in my time.

"Thank you lad" I said, while taking the letter.

I passed the boy a coin, and he bowed before departing. Then I unrolled the crude paper and read it.

"Son of a gun!" I shouted.

That got Cameron's attention.

"Is something wrong, Master?" she asked.

Indeed it was.

"Terrible news" I told the Terminator "I have a cousin apparently, and she needs a husband. My father wants me to find one for her here in Camelot".

My memories of my family in this world weren't important to me, but they did exist and I was able to recall a few girls who'd come to watch my knightly training. Young noble ladies didn't have much to do in this day and age, so watching boys work out and try to clobber each other, was a good a pass time as any.

"I vaguely remember her" I mentioned to Cameron "Some small girl who chatted endlessly, her parents died when she was young. I think she's called Maeve".

My family wasn't that well off, our holdings were small, and as such my father couldn't afford to keep me, hence why I'd made my own way, and now he wanted his niece taken off his hands.

"It's a good idea" my bodyguard said "Camelot is full of men who can provide a comfortable life for your cousin, and you can entice them with a large dowry".

She was providing some good advice. It would be a simple matter for me to use my wealth and position to find a husband for some young woman. It wasn't as if I cared who she ended up with, as long as they didn't mistreat her that is.

"My father wants me to pick met her up from where is staying and bring her here" I mentioned.

For some reason my cousin was staying with another noble family. I didn't care why, what I saw here was an opportunity to spend a few days away from Camelot. I could beam to my cousin's location at around the time I would be due to arrive if I'd travelled their on horseback. The dull part would be travelling with her and any servants she brought along, back to Camelot.

"This is why I normally go with drop in" I muttered to myself.

It was my own fault. I'd decided to become a Knight of Camelot during what was suppose to be a relaxing Jump, and okay compared to other Jumps this had been a snooze, but I could do without the family obligations.

"Go see the steward" I instructed Cameron "Tell him that I require a room for my cousin who will be staying here at the citadel for the foreseeable future".

Thankfully this was a big place and there were always empty rooms for guests. As for any maids I could worry about them later, after all my father hadn't instructed me to take care of them.

"I'll run this by Prince to ensure there aren't any problems, and to get a few days off" I said.

Cameron didn't leave right away. She didn't exactly look as if there was anything on her mind, yet somehow I knew she had something else to say before her mouth opened to speak.

"You can use your cousin staying here to your advantage" stated the cyborg "She could befriend the Lady Morgana, and maybe find out how her ladyship feels about you".

That plan had the potential to backfire, as if Morgana hated my cousin she'd feel more negatively towards me as well, but for now the Seer was a sweet and forgiving person so I wasn't too worried about that.

"I'd like to get the measure of her before I let Morgana exchange words with my cousin" I said.

For all I knew this Maeve hated my guts. And I wouldn't blame her since I barely acknowledged her existence.

(Line Break)

 **Isle of Blessed. Albion.**

When I'd decided to visit the island during the time when I should be travelling to met my cousin I had expected to have a lesson in the use of magic, and that I might have time for a couple of lessons, as well as an opportunity to go to bed with the High Priestess.

What I hadn't expected was to end up sparring with a woman as she worked to perfect her skills with the sword as well as her magical talents while under Nimueh's tutorship. Also I hadn't imagined that she'd be so much better at duelling than I was.

While I knew that Morgause, the woman who kept knocking me on my ass, was the half-sister of Morgana Pendragon; it was unknown to me if she had any other siblings, but that seemed unlikely as I felt sure that they would have appeared in the show at some point.

I did know for certain that Morgause was born into one of the noble houses of Camelot, the house of Gorlois. I didn't know who her father was, but I did know that Vivienne, the wife of Gorlois, was Morgana's mother, and they'd both inherited their magical powers from her.

However Gorlois was not Morgana's father and I didn't think he was Morgause's either as I'd seen a portrait of the man and he looked nothing like Morgause or Morgana. This Vivienne woman must have cuckolded her poor husband something awful.

Gorlois was a sorry man in life. His wife had cheated on him with his best friend, who happened to be Uther, who later betrayed his friend by not sending him reinforcements during an important battle, and then Uther had taken the girl who Gorlois had thought was his daughter as his ward.

For some unknown reason, Gaius was asked to smuggle the infant Morgause out of Camelot when she was very young and he had given her over to the High Priestesses of the Old Religion. Gaius did so, and swore an oath to never reveal his actions to anyone. An oath he broke in the show, but only because Arthur was in danger.

Uther was led to believe that Morgause had died, also due to an unknown reason. In fact she lived and Morgause studied magic for many years, eventually becoming a very powerful sorceress, before acting to take her revenge on Uther Pendragon.

As things turned out I'd become part of that training, and if asked I would have admitted that Morgause was a better swordsmen, or swordswoman or swords person, or whatever, than I was. Which was really no surprise and in the show she did beat Arthur in a duel, and he was the only Camelot knight able to challenge me.

A part of me wanted to think that Morgause must be using magic in order to keep defeating me, not directly, instead she might be enhancing herself, but that might be my pride talking, and that was dangerous as I couldn't risk underestimating someone who could one day be my enemy.

Given what she might do in the future it was tempting to kill her now, but that would be a little hard to get away with Nimueh watching, and besides she hadn't actually done anything as of yet. Also she had use to me, if only as a sparring partner so killing her now made no sense.

"That's enough for now" stated Nimueh "Morgause you're more than a match for any knight of Camelot".

Those words could well be true. Morgause wasn't that physically strong, however she was fierce, she stayed on the offensive, and kept moving, her footwork was superior to mine, add to that she was very nimble. If she was someone else I might find her attractive due to her skills and fearsomeness, but this was Morgana's sister and she was kinda scary as well. Besides if I so much as flirted with her sister, and Morgana ever found out it would affect my chances with her.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" I said to the two women, as I picked myself up off the ground "Arthur is better than me".

Okay so that was debatable, and sure I could have defeated Morgause if I'd used my near-ascended powers, but there was a fair chance she could beat the prince, and I didn't want her rushing to Camelot in order to challenge the young Pendragon.

"Be patient" Nimueh said as she and Morgause got close to each other "It is not yet your time".

When they started kissing I figured that Nimueh's teaching methods seemed to include being intimate with her students. Not that I minded as she was a hot teacher.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

I walked around the fortress and found that I was pleased with the job Cortana had done while directing the bots to fix up this fortress. While most of the most of the place was still empty, it was all clean, plus spider free, and those places that had been converted into something useful to me had only the best equipment.

Cortana had insured that I had workshop all set up should I desire to some tinkering with machines as I sometimes did, she'd also set up a lab for scientific studies, as well as a room for magical practices, which had been put together with potential explosions in mind.

Sure I had a layers of personal shields and body armour to help protect me, however that wouldn't help much if I brought the roof down on myself so Cortana had placed some force fields around the room, which could any explosions contained.

My AI had also ensured me that there was a place for transportation to be stored. Not that I had a fleet of cars or anything like that, but I'd already built a boat so I should be able to build other craft. Space ships were banned in this setting, but that didn't rule out stuff like planes, helicopters, tanks, and perhaps even submarines.

Well maybe not that last one as I wasn't qualified to control such a craft and in any case I had no interest in whatever was going on under the sea, if there were merepeople and the like I didn't want to annoy them. Plus there was a lot of land to explore.

The bedrooms and kitchens were nothing special, although they were a lot more modern than anything else in this world, what really caught my eye was the command centre that Cortana had set up. Form this room I could see what the probes and the satellite could see, and when in this room I would be able to make use of the technology here to do many cool things.

Aside from being able to monitor most of Albion at any time I could access the transporters, which would allow me to lock on any number of people and beam them around, or really high up into the air if I so pleased. Shame that there were no active volcanoes in this part of the world or I could have dropped dangerous people and objects into the lava. Perhaps I could work on extending the range.

There were no physical controls in this room, instead there was a command chair, similar to those found on Ori or Ancient ships. A direct neural interface was a far more elegant means of controlling such advanced technology. I no need for buttons or switches, not when I do things with my mind. Also the chair required the user to have the ATA gene so it acted as another layer of security.

"You need to make this place proof against scrying" Cortana reminded me as I sat down.

That wasn't a big concern as if a certain High Priestess was able to keep track of me at all times she have enquired about my teleporting by now. Besides when it came to Nimueh I was far more concerned about she wanted me to do that she saw while spying. I could always erase her memories if needs be. Assuming I could disable her for long enough.

"Any signs of armies on the move?" I enquired.

Things had been tense in Camelot ever since that whole poisoned chalice idencent had nearly started a war, and the deaths caused by the vampires hadn't helped with that.

Thankfully Bayard had not marched an army, he desired Camelot's wealth, as did many powerful men in this part of the world, but clearly he'd realised that he couldn't take the kingdom. Which wasn't surprising as the castle had strong walls and brave defenders, any attacker would need a great advantage in order to ensure victory.

According to the history files in my databases, the kingdom of Mercia was Anglo-Saxon, and it was established after the supposed death of Arthur. It covered much of south Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Northern Warwickshire. For some time it was the most powerful Kingdom in Britain.

Yet in this world it wasn't an Anglo-Saxon kingdom and nor was it anywhere near as large, this among other things had convinced me that this world was an alternate version of my own with changes that went back possibly thousands of years. If nothing else this meant I didn't need to worry about radically altering the future of my world, or something close to it.

On the other hand that didn't mean it was a good idea to cause too many changes as then events that were suppose to come to pass wouldn't, and while that worked out better in the Stargate verse I couldn't be sure that it would here. Besides improving things for the better in that setting had been a lot of work, and I didn't fancy going through all that again.

At least not yet anyway. I was suppose to be taking some time off Jumper stuff, and now that I had a proper fall back position. I could focus on enjoying myself, at least somewhat. Later if needs be I could use this place as more than a hideaway. From here I'd be able to command whole armies or destroy them.

I leaned back in the control chair that Cortana had set up and I felt my mind connect to the systems that had been set up here. I could feel the security systems, the transporters, the replicators, the force fields, the computers in the lab and workshop, the cloaking device that with a thought I would be able to activate, as well as other devices. It was all here at my command.

"Yes this will do nicely" I said.

Now that I had a proper home away from home, a place I that could be used for research and experimentation, I could relax a little more, knowing that Cortana had somewhere to beam me to should thing go wrong for me in Camelot. Which did ease the burden on my mind.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Are you sure that I can't terminate her?" Cameron asked me, and not for the first time.

Maeve, my cousin for this Jump, was in the carriage while Cameron and I rode on horses. The trip home would have been more comfortable in the carriage, but seconds after meeting Maeve I'd decided to keep my distance. She was pleasant enough to look at, alas she was a talker, more so than the women in my original family, and the entire time I'd been within her line of sight I'd been pelted with questions, which would haven't been so bad only she never gave enough time to give her a proper answer to any of them.

"I'm considering it" I said to my cyborg companion.

Okay so I wasn't going to let her kill someone just because they were annoying, however that didn't mean the option wasn't tempting.

"Welcome back Sir Gothic!" someone called out.

To my surprise the prince had come out to greet me. I hadn't expected him to note my arrival nevermind come out to the courtyard. However I soon realised that Arthur was actually here to met my cousin, and he made a fuss over her arrival, taking her hand and helping her get out of the carriage.

I had to wonder what his motivation was for doing this. He might just be making an effort to be polite, or he could even be trying to make me seem more impressive to my cousin. Then again knowing the prince as I did this could all be some plan that involved embarrassing me.

Not that it really mattered. Maeve was only my concern until I found someone stupid enough to marry the talkative young woman. Then I could wash my hands of her and get on with something that actually mattered. Such as my studies of magic, or the improvement projects.

"This is my cousin the Lady Maeve" I told Arthur, who of course already knew that "Cousin, this is Prince Arthur, Knight of Camelot and heir to the throne".

I half expected Maeve to swoon, but she and her handmaiden, whose name I'd even not bothered to learn, just giggled a lot. I had a feeling that soon I'd come to loathe that noise, in fact the loathing was already starting.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled "Come help with the bags".

Maeve had packed quite a lot, hence the need for an expensive carriage. Already several servants were attempting to sort out of the bags while getting them off the top of the carriage. At least the trip here had been uneventful, we'd not been bothered by any bandits, and traffic wasn't a concern in this era.

"We have a room prepared for you" the prince told my relative "And we'll find somewhere for your maid to sleep".

My mind was that was of a near-ascended human, as such I was able to keep track of the conversation while also taking in my surroundings, and I couldn't help noticing that someone was watching. It was Morgana, she was probably just curious about this new arrival. She was too far away for me to make her expression.

Hopefully this wouldn't turn out to be some sort of territorial female thing. There were other noble women around, but none of them were as young or as good looking as Morgana, and I didn't think she'd approve of the attention the prince was giving Maeve.

"Thank you, your highness" my cousin was now saying, when she wasn't busy giggling.

I sighed and told myself that the sooner I got this girl a husband the better things would be for us all. Clearly she wanted a man in her life, and after meeting Arthur I figured that she wouldn't settle for anything less than a Knight of Camelot assuming we couldn't find a nice prince.

Well a knight that wasn't me. Although if I recalled correctly it wasn't so odd to marry your cousin when part of noble family. Not that this was a possibility for me I had no desire to start a family, as I wouldn't be around long enough to see any kids grow up, and I only wanted women as companions if they had skills that were of use to the group.

Which was why I once more looked up at Morgana, but she'd gone from the window. Hopefully she was okay. I'd hate to have upset her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Review**

 **Iskandr**

Isn't photovoltaics just a fancy term for solar power?

Gargoyles are possible, they did appear in the show when a magic user brought some stone Gargoyles to life. Jumper Gothic could do it with hardlight holograms like the dragon that was one of the tests to overcome when SG1 were seeking the Sangraal.

Well the knights were only acting the part of watchman because of the murders, and he wasn't just standing around guarding some door, he was inspecting the security, which included making sure that the guards were doing their jobs. He wasn't actually guarding the castle himself he was just checking the security.

Sam Vines was a knight, his formal title is Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch.

Also it wasn't unheard of in medieval time for knights to guard a royal castle or even to act as bodyguards for important people. The Kingsguard in Game of Thrones are an example of this.

A dream catcher is an elegant solution, although it could backfire if discovered by Uther. Dream catcher do look a bit magical, which I guess is part of their charm.

 **Jump Chain 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 13**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

While I'd been away things had not been so peaceful here, there'd been a griffon rampaging around and Lancelot had become a knight only to be arrested when it was discovered that he wasn't part of noble family. Then Lancealot had killed the griffon and been pardoned before he'd left the kingdom. All very dramatic, and while the monster had ended the lives of a few people things had calmed down again pretty soon.

It was a little worrying how quickly people got over monsters attacking the kingdom. I didn't think it was all a case of British stiff upper lip, and as Churchill would put it KBO (keep buggering on) People just seemed to accept that bad things would happen. Which made me feel a little sad.

"The people need their spirits lifting" I muttered to myself.

"What was that my lord?" a voice asked

I hadn't meant to speak out loud.

"Nothing" I told the tailor, as he took his measurements "I was just thinking".

Cameron, who was always concerned for my security, had recently pointed out that I was often seen in new clothes, but never seen buying any. Which might strike someone as odd so she'd made an appointment for me with the royal tailor, one who supplied the nobility with the height of local fashion. I didn't really care what he made for me, he was just here for the sake of appearances.

There was a knock at the door, and the prince entered my quarters. I'd been expecting to talk to him sometime today, however I'd thought that he would summon me his rooms.

"Your Highness" I said, while stepping off the small stool the tailor had asked me to stand on "Just give me a moment".

I dismissed the clothes maker, knowing that I could always finish my business with him later on.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked the future monarch.

The prince came further inside the room and took a seat at the table, which meant that I could also sit down. It wouldn't have been proper for me to take a seat before he did. Not that the prince normally cared about such protocol.

"I just finished speaking to my father about your idea for an archery contest" he told me.

That had been my idea. I figured that the dark mood which had settled over the city could be lifted with a nice sporting event. And there were plenty of events that were for knight only, such as the melee tournaments and the jousting, my intention was for the archery contest to open to all. A chance for the different classes to compete as equals.

"The king does not believe that it is right for knights and other nobles to compete against peasants" said the Prince.

I had foreseen that Uther might say something along those lines. If a common person beat one of the knights it might make the kingdom's elite warriors look foolish. Worse if it was Arthur who was beaten by some hunter, the people might see him as weak.

"A shame" I said "I really thought that a friendly contest might help bring people together".

Arthur nodded, and I could see that he thought that there would be merit in it as well.

"Your point about all the other yearly contests only being open to knights and how that was unfair on the people of this kingdom is valid" the future king was now saying "So I was able to convince my father of the merits. There is a possibility that we can recruit some fine archers for the army, and it would life people's spirits".

I was glad to hear this. The contest was my idea, and while its success or failure wouldn't alter my standing much, I was hoping that it would become a yearly tradition and that I would be remembered for it long after I left this world, and my Jump Chain came to an end.

"My father has agreed that the treasury can bare the expense of funding the contest" the prince told me "As long as you pay for the prize".

This made sense as the contest would bring more people into the city, and they would spend money while here, at the tavern and such, this income would be taxed, and those taxes would refill the treasury. At least in part, and I was sure that the king would find other ways to make money if he needed it.

"I hope that you'll host the contest" I said to Arthur as I poured us both a small cup of wine "I'm sure the winner of the prize will find it all the more satisfying if its presented to them by the prince".

The winner of my planned contest would receive a golden arrow, which was an idea I'd ripped off from the Robin Hoods stories, but if he ever existed, and he might do in this world, he wouldn't be born for hundreds of years so no worries there.

"Why don't you want my father to host this contest?" the prince wondered.

I had my reasons, and not all of them were to do with the fact that Uther was a despot that I loathed.

"You normally enter all the contests" I said Arthur "Which means rather than enjoying these events, you're busy training and preparing. I think it would make a nice change if you could sit back and enjoy yourself. Besides you'll be king one day, and you'll have to host many such events, this would be good practice".

Another good reason was that for most of these events the young royal was under pressure to win in order to prove that he was the best warrior in the land. He would always come out of these contests as the champion, but they had to stress him out. This time all he'd have to do is say a few words and hand out a prize.

Aside from the actual contest there would be entertainments of all sort, and a feast for the visiting nobility, that sort of thing. If nothing else these things would serve as distractions for my cousin, who was enraptured by Camelot right now, but I knew she'd become bored soon enough.

"You're right" the prince said as he nodded "It will be interesting simply to watch for a change".

I'd planned the contest out well so he shouldn't need to do much.

"Lots of people will want to enter" I was now saying "So we'll have try out to weed out the true archers with some tryouts, and the best they will compete for the crowds, which should take up a whole afternoon with each round eliminating more contestants".

There was a steward who had hard working staff that would take care of the finer details, while keeping things organised, and I could hire other people to help out if needs be. For the most part I intended to sit back and enjoy the event as much as possible. Assuming nothing odd happened.

Arthur quickly drank down the small amount of wine that I'd served him, and I got the impression that he'd not had a chance to eat or drink much today. While I intended court I wasn't part of Uther's council of advisors, as such I wasn't involved in the actual running of the kingdom, were as the prince was.

"I'll run this by my father and some of members of the court" the prince told me as he got up "Between us I'm sure we'll get it sorted".

Then he was gone, and a few moments later Cameron entered the room.

"What did he want?" the Terminator wondered.

I told her about that the contest that was moving forward as planned, and she told me that cousin had decided to retire early this evening. I hadn't even realised that it was getting dark.

"You know I think I'll go to the tavern" I said to Cameron.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd gone out just to have fun. I'd done plenty of enjoyable things, but most of the time during the last Jump I'd been completing some errand or otherwise running about to fetch something. It had been fun, most of the time, however it had rarely been relaxing.

"You don't drink" she pointed out.

I'd made sure to test my body chemistry and alcohol shouldn't have much of an effect on me, in fact my enhanced biology should allow me handle strong drink more easily than other people. Alliance Marines were gene modded to help them resist toxins and such that were found in hazardous environments, of course this modification had its limits.

"Best I come with you" Cameron said "You'll be vulnerable while intoxicated".

She was right, and while it might not be deemed proper for a knight to take his servant with him when going out for a drink I didn't really care.

"Come on then" I said to the cyborg "To the tavern of the Rising Sun!".

And to the beer. Assuming that it had been invented by this point in time. If not I may have to invent it.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The Rising Sun, often known as just the tavern, was the drinking establishment nearest to Camelot castle. It was owned by Evoric, the innkeeper who ran it, and if you were human he was not the kind of person you wanted to make mad by not paying your tab, or by starting trouble in his pub. The Terminator was sure that Evoric could easily handle the roughest of customers.

Cameron was not concerned for her own safety as the weapons of this time were little danger to her, and while she could drink in order to keep up appearances, she didn't drink very much. No one paid much attention to the cyborg in any case as she sat by herself at the back, a position well suited to keeping an eye on things.

Nor was she concerned about the innkeeper threatening Gothic for none payment of goods and services as it was unlikely that Evoric would start trouble with a knight, a few of which did visit this tarven, besides Gothic always paid for drinks promptly, and even if did set up a tab he'd be able to afford his bills.

Most of Cameron's attention was currently on the arm wrestling event that the human she was suppose to protect was taking part in. This wasn't a totally safe activity, but he could be doing much dangerous things, and at least she could keep an eye on him while he drank intoxicants. Why fragile humans drank alcohol, which was a poison to them, remained a mystery to Cameron.

The rules of the game that Gothic was playing were simple, there was a pot, the combined winnings for this evening, and the person defending the pot had to win every match or he'd lose the pot. The person defending the pot could leave with his winnings whenever he wished however he'd then be done for the night.

So to Cameron it seemed that the trick to this game was to win as much as you could before you faced a superior foe, but the players of the game could only guess at who was superior, and they had to take into account how tried their arm really was.

The defender could of course refuse a challenge, but then they wouldn't be able to increase their winnings, and no would want to challenge someone, to risk their money, if they couldn't win big. The risk of losing it all seemed to be part of the thrill of the game.

Gothic was risking a big pot now, but he hardly needed the money and Cameron didn't think anyone here other than herself could surpass his physical prowess, however should he drink too much, he could lose, also there was a chance that a disgruntled player would resent losing and start a fight, or attempt to mug Gothic once he had left this building, but Cameron was prepared for such possibilities.

There was no need to concern herself with those potential dangers right now as it was still early in the evening, and no one's judgment was too badly affected by that they had been drinking. Which meant that she had some time to explore this new environment, and learn about the people who came here.

Looking around the Terminator noticed a game of chance that was being played for small amounts of money, it involved the rolling of dice in the hopes of reaching a certain number. Upon closer inspection Cameron discovered that the game was close to another dice game called Hazard, which was the prescourer to the dice game known as Craps.

The rules of this game were simple enough for an AI to understand, and Cameron was better able to calculate odds than any human, even when they were sober, she also had very fine motor control, as such she could control the dice rolls.

That combined with the small amount of money she had on person could led to her obtaining some winnings of her own. Not that she needed to win anything as she had access to replicators that could create for her any amount of money she wished, but playing this game would pass the time if nothing else.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion**

"So only do we need to find someone stupid enough to not only marry Maeve, I also need permission from the king for the marriage to happen" I summarized "Well I can't see the second part becoming an issue".

Since it was my task to get my blabbermouth of cousin married I had to find her a husband who could not only put up with her, but also provide for her, and she might want children so he should be healthy enough to father them. If nothing else some brats would keep her busy.

While there were was no shortage of strong young men in this kingdom, however I couldn't force anyone them into marrying Maeve. She'd have to get their interest, and then I'd have to tempt them in marriage with an impressive dowry.

Which might require to buy some more land. All knights in this kingdom owned some land, and since there was a hierarchy of knights, some of us held more land than others. The kingdom was large enough that most of it was uninhabited so I could simply buy more of it from the crown.

"What about your attempts to court the Lady Morgana?" Cameron asked me "Perhaps you should concern yourself more with winning her over than pairing up your annoying cousin with some idiot?".

It wasn't very nicely put, however she wasn't wrong. Maeve was only my concern in the short term, I had to think long term with Morgana, not only because I wanted her as a companion, but also because I wished to avoid her becoming a villain, and dying after so many years filled with nothing other than pain, hatred and misery.

"Enhancing your reputation as a knight could aid in completing in both objectives" Cameron advised "If you were more well thought of the king might allow you to court Morgana and this would help you find a husband for your cousin".

Her suggestions had merit, and I didn't need to marry Morgana just befriend her, still it would be a lot easier to spend time with her socially if Uther approved of me. Already I was coming with a few ways to make myself more highly thought of by the court by increasing my standing. Making more money would help, but a knight's worth wasn't measured in gold.

One way would be to win some tournaments, however that would be hard to do as they weren't any right now, and if there had been then winning them would require me to defeat Arthur. Which wasn't something his father would be at all happy about.

I could leave Camelot for the tournaments held in other kingdoms, but that would take me away form Morgana who I was currently trying to get closer to. Still it was something to keep in mind in the future once I had Morgana committed to me.

There were other paths that led towards the fame and glory that I now desired. I could slay some dangerous beast, a dragon would be best, but they were in short supply and the one I did know about was a useful resource. Even if he hadn't been I'd fear to face him in battle. A dragon was a fearsome foe in battle, and the Great Dragon was the most fearsome of them all.

"I could go on some quest" I said to Cameron "The most famous of knights go on quests for some treasure like the Holy Grail".

Which in this world was called the Cup of Life, and while it formed the bases for the stories about the Holy Grail it was not the same thing. However I wouldn't quest for that as I already knew where it was, and that it was better off staying hidden away. Sure it was tempting to use its powers to make myself immortal, but that would require the aid of a High Priestess who could use the ritual to make me her minion. Which would make eternal life totally unbearable for me.

"The knight seeking a quest is suppose to be spend the night in some sort of mediation and in the process transcend his body so that a quest is revealed to him in a vision" I explained to Cameron.

Which sounded supernatural on the surface of things, but I knew enough of the human mind to know that it was far more powerful than people understood, it was simply that few knew how to access that power, and it could take many years to unlock even a fraction of that power.

It was possible for humans to have visions even without magical powers, but it required achieving a higher state of being, as a human did when on the path to ascension, it was amazing to think that Arthur of all people was capable of getting far down the path to ascension. Must have something to do with his magical origins.

That or some higher power got involved and used the vision to communication. That was possible, the Triple Goddess, who was the main figure of worship in the Old Religion, might send people visions in order to ensure that her will was done.

If this was the case then I should be able to achieve the level of consciousness required to receive such a vision from on high, in fact I shouldn't need the higher power, but I'd never had any visions. Not that I really wanted any as they tended to be unreliable.

"Are you going to attempt this vision quest?" the Terminator enquired.

I nodded.

"Yes" I then said "if nothing else it will prove that I am a real knight".

The opinions of others meant little to me, but I wanted to prove to myself that I was a true knight. If in the process I could return to Camelot to be showered in honour and glory, while bringing some great treasure back with me, then all the better.

"What about your cousin?" Cameron inquired.

I wasn't too concerned about her. My Terminator could look after her while I was away, assuming I got any visions, if I didn't then I'd have to come up with another plan.

"Well there's no rush for me to go on a quest" I said "And if I don't get a vision we'll have to research and discover some object for me to find or foe to defeat, as an excuse for me to return to Camelot with some riches".

As long as it actual challenged me as a knight it should still be a valid quest. For now however I had an archery contest to oversee and some improvements that needed to be brought about.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"How did you find this place?" Cameron asked me.

That had been simple enough I'd just gotten Cortana do a scan of what was under the castle, and she'd found a few chambers that were cut off from the network of tunnels that were below the Citadel. The tomb had defences, but there was nothing that could stop me from simply beaming in, and the traps here were no match for me. Poison tipped darts meant nothing to people with kinetic barriers and body armour.

"I have a satellite in orbit over the kingdom" I reminded the Terminator "Its sensors aren't that complex, but they were able to find this place with the right kind of scan".

We were here on a whim so I'd not had time to fill Cameron on everything she needed to know.

"This is the tomb of Cornelius Sigan" I told my protector and companion "There are stories about him that say back when he was alive he could turn the tides, change day into night, and even helped build Camelot itself. His life's work was to defeat death and he found a way".

Sadly for me he hadn't figured out some sort of immortality, he just found a way to stop his soul from passing on to the afterlife when he died. Which wasn't knowledge that would help me as while obtaining any form of immortality would be nice I desired something that would prevent me from dying in the first place as that would end up my Jump Chain.

Immortality hadn't concerned me much in past Jumps as I couldn't actually die while on Jump Chain, I'd get a game over and be sent home if anything truly awful happened to me, but now that I had access to things that were supernatural I felt that it was worth looking into.

"Sigan became very powerful, perhaps too powerful, and the King at the time ordered him to be executed" I was now saying to Cameron "Before his death, Sigan cursed Camelot, saying that he would one day return and raze the city to the ground. The stories say that he didn't want his wealth and power to die with him and that up until his execution he worked on a way to cheat death".

In the show, after Camelot miners uncovered his tomb, a thief called Cedric worked his way up to a position in the royal household and he uses his access to the citadel in order to enter the tomb. He intended to steal Sigan's riches and jewels, including a large blue heart shaped jewel that one of the miners had told him about.

The jewel was sort of like one of Voldemort's horcruxes, only the jewel contained all of Sigan's soul rather than just part of it, and when Cedric took told of the jewel, he become possessed by Cornelius Sigan's soul. Sigan soon launched an attack on Camelot that forced Merlin to ask the Kilgharrah, aka the Great Dragon for help, despite them being at odds at the time.

After witnessing Merlin's magic, Sigan tried to recruit the young warlock. However, when Merlin rejected the offer, so Sigan attempted to possess him in order to increase his already considerable powers. Using a spell that Kilgharrah recently taught him, Merlin was able to trap Sigan's soul back inside the jewel.

I explained all of that to Cameron, and about how much damage Sigan could do to Camelot, which to me was simply unacceptable, a lot of people would die because of one thief's greed, and because some miner just happened to dig around here.

"For now I can't do anything about the Sigan's soul" I was now saying to my cyborg bodyguard "Such things are beyond my power".

I was certain that a High Priestess I knew could handle the soul jewel thing, but she would most likely unleash Sigan and ally with him to destroy Camelot, which wasn't something I wanted. I lived in Camelot, and besides I didn't want the common folk to be slaughtered.

Therefore it was for the best if I took this entire tomb out of phase until I could deal with the sort of horcrux. Even if I never found a way by the time the generator that was powering the phase cloak stopped working Camelot would be long buried and mostly forgotten.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

After setting up the phase cloak I'd returned to my room for some reading, and this time I was actually looking for something rather than just studying. I wanted to find something that would help Morgana with her nightmares as while the visions she had were important they were causing her a lot of distress.

My studies were helping a lot as recently I'd learned to detect scrying, I couldn't stop a certain High Priestess from spying on me, but I could feel when she was thanks to my growing powers. When I got that feeling of someone watching I knew that I had to act as boring as possible.

"Here's something" I said to Cameron "Adder stones are believed to have many magical powers which they can bestow protection against eye diseases or evil charms, prevent nightmares, curing whooping cough, the ability to see through fairy or witch's disguise. Also they can detect traps if looked at through the middle of the stone, and help someone recover from a snakebite".

That all sounded super useful and as long as the stone was small enough then Morgana should be able to hide in her chambers.

"Also a true adder stone will float in water" I then added.

I read some more.

"There are two origins of adder stones mentioned in this book" I was now saying "One origin is that the stones are the hardened saliva of large numbers of serpents which are massed together. The second claims that an adder stone comes from the head of a serpent".

Didn't sound very hygienic.

"Must be a big serpent" Cameron commented.

I gave it some thought. A dragon might count as a big serpent, but the one kept below Camelot would not do anything to help Morgana, and I'd rather not trick him. Pissing off a giant, fire breathing reptile was never a good idea, even if was chained up.

"They're connected to the druids" I said "Sounds as if I might need to seek them out".

Which would be tricky as the druids were hunted by Uther and I worked for him. Still I might be able to locate and talk to them if I came to them as a man with magic rather than a knight. If anyone had an adder stone or could make one for me it would be them, and I could trade goods for their services.

"What about a dream catcher?" Cameron suggested.

I considered it. It sound like a simple solution to Morgana's nightmares.

"Might work" I said to her "but I don't think a replicated one will do the trick and the real things are made by the Native Americans, who won't make contact with Europeans for hundreds of more years so we'll have to be careful if we make contact with them".

At least we had some options, and getting to North America wouldn't be too much work as now that I had the fortress operational I could launch more satellites and Cortana could use them to track down a tribe of Native Americans for me. I should be able to safely handle them.

Of course it might radially alter history if a white made contact with them centuries before any colonization efforts. I did have to wonder if I should warn the natives or not. It could save millions of lives if I told them to kill anyone trying to settle that part of the world. It was something to think about.

"It can wait until after the archery contest" I said.

Better to wait for that to be over before I did any more travelling.


	14. Chapter 14

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 14**

 **Wilderness. Albion.**

While I had no passion for hunting, it wouldn't do me any good to refuse the prince when he invited me to on a hunt with him, so here I was walking through the woods with crossbow in hand. If nothing else it was good to get out of the city and away from my talkative cousin for a few hours. She was nice girl, but she got bored easily and liked to chat with people.

"Merlin, do you even understand the concept of being quiet?" Arthur was asking his manservant.

I saw Merlin shrug. Clearly he wasn't too concerned if his boss didn't get to kill anymore animals.

"You've got two rabbits, that's enough" replied the young warlock.

The prince had an annoyed expression on his face, as he often did when looking at his manservant. Although to be fair the young warlock's clumsiness had scared away some of the game.

"A deer would have better" Arthur argured "And I almost had one".

He was about to say more, but this was when all heard a woman scream somewhere in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" Merlin asked.

To my enhanced senses the yell had been quiet clear. I could even tell that it had come from the mouth of a young woman who wasn't that far away.

"Quiet!" Arthur commanded.

When the next scream reached our ears I could tell where it was coming from, and so could the prince. We both grabbed our swords from the servants who were carrying them and ran toward the source of the sound. It wasn't normal for women to go on the hunt so I had one of the palace's servants with me today.

What we found were four thugs who were surrounding a well-dressed man and woman. The man had graying hair and a mustache; the girl looked to be even younger than Arthur, but it was hard to tell as she had the hood of her travelling cloak up. The man was doing his best to shield the woman while the thugs demanded money from them and threatened them with physical harm.

Both of them carried intricately carved wooden staves, each topped with a large blue jewel. Oddly the staffs didn't look that different than those that were carried by the Priors of the Ori, and I knew them to be magical staffs which could be used to fire blasts of energy at a foe. How someone could look at such a staff and not think they were supernatural totally eluded me.

Putting those observations aside I lifted and aimed my crossbow just as Arthur pulled out his crossbow again and fired an arrow straight into a thug's heart. My arrow went into a man's leg as my hope was to question him, and take him prisoner so that I could confirm that this was in fact a staged event.

I knew that this scene had been scripted by the two well dressed people, and this bit of theatre was for the prince's benefit, to allow him to save the damsel in distress, and give her an excuse to get close to him. It was part of a plan to kill the prince, but I could worry about that later.

The two remaining men who could still be a threat, looked around and quickly spotted us, we weren't exactly hard to miss. One thug raced at Arthur, while drawing his sword. Arthur dropped the crossbow, drew his own sword and met the blow. I also drew my sword and charged the remaining thug.

Unlike when sparring or duelling in a contest a real sword fight lasts seconds with the more well trained swordsmen easily defeating the lesser skilled warrior. A Knight of Camelot not only had the best training, we had the best weapons too. As such both the prince and I quickly defeated these bandits. Ending their lives as we'd been trained to do in these situations.

Unfortunately the man who'd I shot with the crossbow with the intention of only wounding him had died when Merlin had dropped a tree branch on his head. I was sure that Merlin had only meant to knock the man out in order to prevent his escape or to stop him from stabbing either the prince or I in the back. It was impressive that the man had been able to stand up with the wound I'd given him, never mind hobble anywhere.

This was disappointing, but thinking on it I doubted anyone would believe the robber in any case. Uther wouldn't not when two people of what appeared to be a higher station told the king a different story. Besides there wasn't any physical evidence anyway.

The thugs' would-be victims were clinging to each other, and while they were magic users intent on trading the prince's soul so that the girl become an immortal fairy, or something like that, they were also very good actors. I could see why the prince would believe what he was seeing.

"Are you all right?" Arthur asked. "Did they hurt you?"

The woman turned to Arthur and lowered the hood of her cloak.

"No. Thanks to you. I'm Sophia, and this is my father" she said.

She was cute I guessed, but she looked too young for my taste. The prince however seemed rather taken with the young woman.

"Arthur Pendragon, at your service" the prince replied.

The prince then kissed Sophia's hand, and I heard Merlin suppress a snort of amusement. I just frowned and wondered if I should do something about this or let events take place as they did in the show. After all it wasn't my destiny to safeguard the prince.

I quickly decided that for now I'd just wait and wait.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Once we returned to the castle the prince brought the two travellers before the court. I followed them since I was a knight of the realm and therefore had a place at court. Once the court was in session the man bowed before speaking.

"My name is Aulfric, heir of Tír-Mòr. This is my daughter, Sophia" said the magical creature in mortal form.

Aulfric gestured to his daughter, who curtsied like a proper young lady.

"You're a long way from home," Uther commented. "What brings you to Camelot?".

An evil plot, that was what.

"Our home was sacked by raiders," Aulfric replied. "We barely escaped with what few possessions we could carry".

At this point I couldn't help noticing that Morgana, who currently sat in a chair at the king's side, was looking very uncomfortable. She must have foreseen Arthur's possible death at the hands of Sophia.

"These are dangerous times," Uther observed. "What will you do?".

"We travel west to Caerleon where we have family, and what we hope will be a new life" Aulfric said.

While I didn't know of much of Caerleon in this world and time I did know that in my world of birth, Caerleon was a suburban town and community, situated on the River Usk in Wales. It wasn't that far from where I'd been born, or would be born, assuming that I had a, or would have, a counterpart in this world

"You must stay here a while, break your journey," Uther offered. "A noble family like yours is always welcome in Camelot".

Once more Aulfric bowed and Sophia curtsied. A moment later a steward stepped forward to show the visitors to some room they could wait in while rooms were prepared. I saw Arthur and Sophia smile at each other as she exited the room, whatever enchantment she'd cast on the young prince had done its work very quickly.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Make sure you put her in a decent room," Arthur ordered as he walked into his chambers.

He tossed his sword and gloves onto his bed. Knowing that they would be take care of soon enough.

"Yes, Highness" Merlin said as he followed Arthur into the prince's bedchambers "I believe the room next door is empty, shall I have her put in there?".

Merlin was finding this amusing. Arthur was clearly smitten, and as of yet he hadn't discovered that there was something sinister going on.

"The one next door's fine," Arthur agreed, while taking off his jacket. "Excellent, in fact".

Arthur glanced over his shoulder, and saw Merlin smirking at him.

"Shut up, Merlin" he ordered.

"I didn't say anything!" Merlin protested.

"You didn't have to," Arthur retorted. "I'll have you know that my intentions toward Sophia are completely honourable".

Well maybe not totally.

"Oh yes, I'm sure I'll be hearing a happy announcement by the end of the week," Merlin teased. "I'll make sure that your fair maiden has every luxury Camelot has to offer, in her own separate bedchamber" .

The young warlock walked out of the room before Arthur could formulate a response to that.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

There was rapping at my chamber door, as if someone was gently tapping. Then the noise became more urgent, someone needed to speak with me.

"Enter!" I called out.

The Lady Morgana closed the door behind her after she walked in.

"I had another dream" she said.

She didn't even bother with a greeting, so I knew that this had to be important, not that I hadn't already know what this was all about I was just mildly surprised that she'd come to me, and that she was being so direct. She was normally more secretive about special talent, and given her guardian's feelings towards all things magical I didn't blame her.

"Another nightmare?" I asked.

Morgana nodded, and I frowned. I didn't wish to lie to her, but nor could I just come out and admit the truth. So for now all I could do for her was try to be supportive. The day would come when I showed the Cosmic Warehouse and the reality of who I was, but now wasn't the time.

"I saw Arthur lying underwater, he was drowning" Morgana said in a frantic tone "And there was a woman, standing over him, watching him die. And she's here, in Camelot!".

Slowly I stood up and placed what I hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Did you have the dream before she came to Camelot?" I asked.

"Yes," Morgana confirmed, as her body shaked "It was so real, so vivid. I saw him die. She's going to kill him".

She hugged me, and it was a pleasant feeling despite how upset Morgana happened to be.

"Arthur's already falling head over heels for her" I said "and they only met a few hours ago, I did think that was odd".

Her ladyship broke off the hug.

"We must keep them apart!" Morgana exclaimed.

That might work. Sophia and her father were staying because the king wanted them here, but his hospitality wasn't without limits, they could overstay their welcome. So it should be possible to the prince away from Sophia and ruin their plans, although if Arthur wanted to spend time with a girl there actually wasn't much we could do about it. At least not without exposing who I really was.

"We might not be able to keep them apart" I said "But we can keep an eye on them. This Sophia won't be able to harm Arthur if one of us is always with them".

Morgana smiled and I knew then that I'd spoken the right words.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Is the prince here?" I asked, after he had let me into his highness's chambers.

Before Merlin could answer, Arthur also walked in from the adjoining chamber, which I assumed was his privy.

"I'm taking Sophia for a ride today," he announced.

This had to be prevented. If nothing else keeping them apart was important for my growing relationship with Morgana

"You've got the patrol, remember?" Merlin stated.

"I know," Arthur said casually. "Which is why I need you to cover for me."

This is when I spoke.

"Highness you can't abandon your duties just to spend time with a pretty girl. You do have a kingdom to help run" I protested.

At this point Arthur looked as if he was being pulled in two directions.

"I promised Sophia I'd take her out, and if I don't turn up it'll blow my chances," Arthur said.

Thinking fast I figured out what to say.

"You could send a gift as an apology, and then invite her to the archery contest" I suggested "I'm sure she'd enjoy being able to sit at your side for the contest and the feast that Uther is having for the visiting nobles. That way you can spend time with her without failing to complete your duties".

I would have to get myself assigned to the patrol in order to make sure that he joined it. But that wouldn't too hard as even a patrol heading out to the nearest villages would welcome a knight in their ranks, this was after all a dangerous land.

(Line Break)

 **Lake. Albion**.

Merlin hid behind a tree as Aulfric called out into the night air.

"I seek an audience with the Sidhe elders! Do tiag-sa ar idbairt do denam!" he yelled.

A strong wind swept through the surrounding trees as a faintly glowing mist formed over the lake. Several small bright lights emerged from it, and began whizzing around at high speeds. Merlin tried to make out what they were, but they sped up and were joined by more lights making it a confusing sight that was hard to focus on.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold, and time slowed down, or at least seemed to. The trees grew still, the waves by the lake grew sluggish, and the lights slowed enough for Merlin to recognize that they were blue-skinned fairies. Only these were not the small and pretty creatures that some people believed in, these were scary look things with spikes and fangs.

"I come before you to plead for the chance to win passage back to Avalon, and a life of immortality!" Aulfric shouted out.

Aulfric looked around. For a few moments, there was no response to his plea, but then a fairy flew right up to his face and pointed an accusing finger at Aulfric.

"Your punishment for killing another Sidhe is a mortal body and a mortal life," the fairy announced. "You will never be able to return to Avalon!".

"The crime was mine, not my daughter's," Aulfric said.

"The gates of Avalon remain closed to your daughter," the fairy stated, "unless the soul of a mortal prince be offered up to them".

Merlin felt a knot of something cold form in his chest upon hearing that part.

"Thank you!" Aulfric replied. "An immortal life for my daughter is all that I desire, so I promise you the soul of the greatest prince of all... Arthur Pendragon!"

The fairy hissed, and flew away. The other fairies joined him, and they all flew back into the mist. The mist dissipated, and the lake once again appeared ordinary. Then when Aulfric turned around. Merlin quickly pulled his head back behind the tree.

(Line Break)

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.**

So as to ensure that matters were progressing much as I expected them to I'd dispatched cloaked probes that were under Cortana's control to watch both Sophia and her father. Despite my efforts the prince and the mortal fairy girl had been able to spend some time alone. Enough for Sophia to work her magic on Arthur.

I had to slow the hologram down before I could see anything, and even then the words exchange between the glowing lights and Sophia's father was just like the buzzing of insects. Still I didn't need to hear what was being said in order to understand what was going on.

Aulfric, Sophia's father, had just struck a deal with the leader of Sidhe, the fairies, to exchange the prince's soul for an immortal life as a fairy for his daughter. In order to do that Sophia would need to be able to control the prince to the extent that he'd willingly go to this death.

Which was why they'd set up that scene with the bandits back in the woods. Arthur couldn't simply be drowned in the lake, if that were the cause the two mortal fairies would have tried to grab the prince while he was out hunting rather than have Sophia seduce him.

While I was keeping an eye on events my intention was not to interfere too much as saving the prince was Merlin's job not mine. My main interest in keeping Aruther alive was that Morgana would be heartbroken if his highness died.

It was clear to me by now that she wanted to get closer to me, but that might change if Arthur died. So Merlin better do his job or I would have to do it for, which would be a pain in my ass as I still had an archery contest to sort out.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Avalon" Gaius said, sounding utterly amazed. "What you saw at the lake, it's Avalon, it must be!".

The young warlock had just finished describing what he had seen at the lake to his mentor.

"What's that?" Merlin asked.

"The land of eternal youth" Gaius explained. "Mortals are only supposed to glimpse it the moment before death!"

Although no one could be sure of that since anyone who might have seen it would have died seconds later.

"Well, I've seen it, and I'm still here," Merlin pointed out.

"Extraordinary! What did it look like?" Gaius wished to know.

There was no time for Merlin to go into details.

"They're going to sacrifice Arthur and we don't even know who they are yet" the young warlock said.

"Well, we do now," Gaius said, while tapping the cover of a book "Judging by the writing you saw on Aulfric's safe and what you saw at the lake I believe we're dealing with the Sidhe".

Something about that word unsettled the young warlock.

"That does not sound like a good thing," stated a worried sounding Merlin.

The expression on his mentor's face confirmed that it wasn't.

"They're masters of enchantment," Gaius told his ward.

"Do you think Arthur's been enchanted?" Merlin wondered.

Gaius nodded.

"Almost certainly" he said.

Merlin frowned and realised that he was going to have to do something about this as the prince was in great danger.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The archery contest was going well, the skilled archers had been separated from those who lacked true talent during the tryouts, now only experienced hunters and guardsmen with skilled with bow were competing. As predicted the crowd seemed to be enjoying the contest, and many were routing for someone they knew rather than some knight they'd never even spoke to.

After every round those that missed the target were removed from the contest and the targets were moved further away from the competitors. This meant that only the most skilled of archers would have a chance to win the golden arrow, which was currently resting on a velvet cushion on a stool that was next to Arthur.

Alas on the other side of the prince, who as planned was playing host to this event, was Sophia, who despite efforts made by myself and Morgana, had been able to enchant the young noble, bringing him under her control, at least to some extent. Of course she couldn't take him to the lake and drown him with all these witnesses around so he was safe for as long as this event carried on.

While Arthur's life and soul were on the line here I couldn't help feeling pleased by how things were progressing. My contest was a success, and since Morgana wanted to keep an eye on the prince she'd come to this even with me. She was sitting at my side, and I liked that.

That little enjoyment came to end when it became time for the prince to present the winner of the contest with the golden arrow. While the people were happy enough with the outcome, and the winner, who was a humble guardsmen didn't seem putoff, I couldn't help noticing that the prince barely paid attention to his duty, he kept his eyes firmly locked on Sophia.

Still the crowd cheered and the rain didn't start until after the prise was handed over so the event was a success. No doubt there would be much drinking and celebrating going on indoors. As for Morgana and I we had feast to attend, and at least we'd able to keep an eye on Arthur while that was going on.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The next day, Arthur requested an audience with the king, I along with other members of the court gathered while Arthur stood with Sophia and Aulfric. This wasn't the kings first appointment of the day, and already several matters had been brought to his majesty's attention and once he had decided on a course of action certain members of the court ensured that the king's orders were carried out. There had been nothing to concern myself with until now.

"I requested this audience, Father, to discuss a matter of great importance," Arthur announced.

Uther looked up from the sheaf of reports that he had been perusing, and with a nod he let his son know that he was listening,

"It cannot have escaped your attention that I and Lady Sophia Tír-Mòr have grown very close" the prince said.

No one could have missed it. Cameron had told me last night that it was the main source of gossip down in the kitchens.

"Rather too close, it would seem," Uther commented in a tone that was something disapproving.

He glanced at Morgana, who was making no effort to conceal her displeasure at Sophia, I didn't doubt that she'd mentioned something about her feelings to the king, however she hadn't spoke too much about it, I could tell that as the monarch seemed happy when he looked at Morgana rather than concerned about his ward's dreams.

"We're in love," Arthur stated. "Which is why I come before you today to ask your permission to marry"

For a few moments, there was total silence. Then Uther burst out laughing.

"I assume you're joking" he said

Arthur looked bewildered by this response.

"No. I'm going to marry her" he insisted.

The general mood in the room was that of confusion.

"But you only met a few days ago," Uther pointed out.

"We're in love," Arthur insisted.

"In love," Uther repeated. "We had no idea you were such a romantic, had we, Morgana?".

The king turned to his ward once again.

"No," Morgana said flatly. "It's like he's fallen under her spell".

Uther didn't seem to pick on what his secret daughter was hinting at.

"I'm going to marry her," Arthur declared. "I don't care what you think about it".

His bold statement made the court members whisper among themselves, and the king realised that his authority was being challenged.

"I thought you'd come to ask my permission" said the ruler of this land.

"Out of courtesy, nothing more." Arthur replied as he turned away and offered his hand to Sophia.

They made to exit the council chambers, however the monarch was not going to let his son get away so easily. His authority over his son was slipping away, and all could see it.

"Guards, door!" Uther called out.

The guards crossed their pikes and barred the doorway. Arthur and Sophia stopped in their tracks as Uther rose to his feet.

"Have you forgotten whose court you're standing in?" he asked.

"You won't stop me," Arthur warned. "If I want to marry her, I will".

Uther shot Arthur a look of exasperation, and even if I hadn't already known what was going to happen I would have been able to see it coming.

"Arrest Sophia and Aulfric Tír-Mòr" the king ordered.

The guards moved to obey Uther's command, and Arthur took a step towards his father.

"What are you doing?" the prince demanded to know.

His father did not respond to that right away.

"And inform the executioner that his services will be required first thing tomorrow morning" Uther ordered.

No one other than the prince seemed willing to protest this unfairness.

"You can't do this," Arthur protested.

"Yes, I can, and unless you show me some respect, I will" the king promised.

Arthur glared at his father for a few moments before hanging his head and Uther nodded in approval.

"Release them" the king said to the guards, before turning to address his son "You've got your whole life ahead of you. Sophia is no doubt your first love, but she certainly won't be the only one. Enjoy yourself while you can".

Arthur bowed before exiting the council chambers, and I knew that in a matter of hours Merlin would either save the young prince or he'd would drown in the lake. I decided that I would also be close by just in case things didn't go as expected

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Once again I stood by as the Prince spoke to his father in front of the whole court. Currently Uther was standing in front of his throne.

"When you failed to show up for patrol this morning, I feared you had eloped with Sophia in a fit of passion" he said.

Arthur, whose memory of recent events must be jumbled, seemed confused, but he soon figured out something to say.

"After Sophia left, I wanted to take my mind off her, so…I went for a hunt" the prince said.

I looked at Morgana as she raised an eyebrow and gave the prince a skeptical look.

"And killing things mends a broken heart?" she asked.

Like me she didn't approve of the needless killing of animals. Hunting because you needed food or furs for clothing in a cold environment was fine, but hunting for sport didn't sit well with some people.

"No, but it's good fun," Arthur replied cheerfully "Merlin was meant to inform you that I wouldn't be back until later today"

Uther turned back to Merlin, who tried not to wilt under the king's gaze. I expected the poor lad to end up in the stocks, but Uther just sighed and shook his head.

"I expect you to join me for the council meeting tomorrow" the king then said.

The prince made a quick bow.

"Of course, Father" he said.

And with that he left.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Morgana left my chambers, and while she wasn't exactly happy her mood had improved since the last time she'd been in here, and she seemed grateful for what I had done. As soon as she was gone Cameron came up to where I was sitting.

"You're doing well with her, Master" she commented.

Yes my plan to recruit her ladyship as a companion was progressing well. She was coming to trust me, to see me as someone that she could confide in. While I felt a little bad about manipulating her feelings it was for the best, and not just for me.

I didn't want her to end up some hateful woman who spent all her time plotting to kill her own family. That was no life for anyone, and I didn't want her life to be wasted because her powers could be put to good use, uses that served my goals.

Also while I'd not had to do anything to safeguard Arthur I had been at the lake I'd been able to grab one of the two Sidhe staffs, Merlin had taken the other, and since it was so like the kind of staffs that a near-ascended human could use to boost their powers I hoped to be able to combine the two kinds of staffs into something that boosted all my powers.

"And my position here in Camelot is also improving with the success of the archery contest" I stated.

I hadn't enjoyed the event myself as I'd been too distracted by other things going on, but the people had been entertained as hoped morale had improved. Hopefully the contest would become a yearly event so that next time I could pay it more attention.

"How soon will you try to have a vision so that you can go on a quest and prove yourself?" Cameron asked me.

I considered this.

"Within the next few days" I told my cyborg protector "Assuming nothing comes up".

I didn't think I was pure of spirit enough to go a proper quest, but I had ways around that. If praying to the Triple Goddess didn't do the trick I'd have to make a quest of my own. Which wasn't an option that set well with me, but it might be necessary.

Which wasn't to say that I didn't other options. There were other ways for me to gain influence and a higher position at court, but there was no rush as I still had plenty of time. For now I was going to put my feet up and do a little light reading.


	15. Chapter 15

**Reviews.**

 **Joe Lawyer**

He's got a whole decade in this world there's no need to rush, he has plenty of time to explore. I can expand out as time goes by. Plus there's lot of Celtic mythology to draw upon for ideas.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin.**

 **Part 15**

 **The Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

Inside one of the many rooms of this fortress I sat back on a kind of divan, and typed into a data padd while two holographic naked Asari, which I had created using a combination of technologies from a few different universes, fussed over me. One projected girl was rubbing my shoulders while the other knelt ready to feed me some grapes that I had just replicated.

Neither of these alien women were biological. They only existed because I'd spent hours installing holographic generators around the fortress, not for the purpose of indulging myself, that was just an added bonus, I'd actually installed all of that equipment so I could add another layer of defence to this fortress.

Now the fortresses had a number of hard light holographic guardians which took the form of very scary looking Gargoyles, not unlike those that decorated parts of Camelot, only these weren't made of stone. Since they were just projections of solid light no weapon could harm them. Magic might be able to it depended on the type of spell used.

My knowledge was lacking in all things supernatural so I couldn't be sure that any of my defences would stop a powerful enough sorcerer. Hence why I was adding more defences as at least then I could make it hard for any warlock or witch to enter my base. Even cloaking the entire place might not be enough and I couldn't kept it out of phase all the time.

I could clone some real asari using the DNA I'd gathered, and I had cloned people in the past, but there wouldn't be place for them in this world, and they'd have all the memories of their genetic source so I imagined that they'd be pretty bored on such a primitive planet.

Perhaps when I got to the Star Wars galaxy I would clone some asari and have something useful for them to do, I had limited DNA sources, but with some genetic engineering I could make quite a few, and the asari had an interesting reproduction method so they might be able to multiply even with a limited genepool. I'd look into in the future, for matters of biology were of little interest to me.

"Why do you never tell me to serve you while naked if you enjoy it so much?" I heard someone asked.

With my near-ascended powers and a needless click of my fingers I deactivated the holograms and turned in my seat to look at my personal Terminator.

"I was just relaxing" I told her "No need to get jealous of a machine".

Cameron gave me a look that meant something, but I didn't understand it. At times even robot women could be confusing.

"I am a machine" she reminded.

Well that was true.

"But you're an artificial intelligence" I pointed out "Which means your a person, those were just projections. I much rather have you naked and feeding me grapes".

I suspected that she a bit jealous, as much as she could bem as she didn't strip and come kneel at my side. Which meant she might be mad at me, not that Cameron really got angry, but I figured that she could fake it. Or maybe she could really get jealous, she was capable to learning and growing as a person.

"Come and have a look at this" I told Cameron while patting part of the divan "I was just working on ideas for future Jumps".

She sat down next to me I showed her the padd I'd been working on.

"I know that Star Wars is the next Jump that I planned because I figured that most of the group would enjoy it" I said my cyborg protector "But I've been planning out some Jumps to magical worlds as well because I was worried about overwhelming Morgana if she joined the group".

Cameron took the padd and inspected its contents.

"You have sometimes allowed your companions to choose a Jump as an incentive to join your group" the Terminator said "Morgana seems no less deserving of this privilege, as long as she proves to be useful to you".

Cameron's reasoning could be cold, but it was always straightforward and sensible. This was of worth to me because even before becoming a near-ascended human I'd been a bit of an overthinker, and I still was now I just thought faster and could remember things much better.

Also I couldn't help noticing that my Terminator seemed to be getting even better at altering the way she spoke. Her method of speech seemed to change to suit the situation. I'd noticed it before when she went from addressing me to addressing people in the court.

"I can run it by the rest of my companions at some point" I mused "I don't want them to resent Morgana just because I think Star Wars might too much of a culture shock. I could always place her is stasis for the next Jump instead of the others if I don't Jump to another magical world".

The rest of my harem, if they could be called that, had no interest in magic or in living on a world that didn't have the technology they were used to. I'm sure that they would have suffered through if needs be, but with stasis pods that wasn't an issue. Besides the group was getting larger with every Jump so I might not be able to find a purpose for everyone in all the Jumps.

"You don't need their permission" Cameron inisted.

I didn't, but it wasn't as simple as that.

"True" I said "But an effective leader listens to the opinions of those who follow him, and takes their needs into account when making his or her choices".

In the end it was up to me, but I wanted my companions to be happy and to find enjoyment in working for me. Which was another reason why they were in stasis right now.

"You can't go to this universe" Cameron stated.

Before I could ask about that she placed a hand on my chest so that I had to lie back, and then she straddled my hips. Despite the layers of clothing between our sexual body parts I couldn't help feeling a little aroused. Both of us were wearing what I'd consider to be modern clothing so she was in jeans rather than her maid's outfit which flattered her bosom, but had those needless layers of skirts.

"And why not?" I asked.

I had a feeling that I knew which universe she was talking about.

"Because I won't be able to protect you in that world" Cameron said as she leaned down and took hold of the bowl of grapes "I wasn't built by humans, but I am technology I might not function at this Hogwarts".

I understood her concern. Muggle tech was suppose to cease working at that school, and while she hadn't been made in a human run factory she did run on a power cell, and have circuits. Plus it would look odd if an 11 year old boy was followed around by what seemed to be a strangely acting grown woman.

Should I find myself in that situation I might use Cameron to hunt down and kill Death Eaters, she shouldn't have too much trouble given her skills and all the tech we had at our command. Magical defences in that world worked to keep out Muggles away and sure Cameron might look human, but she was far from it.

"My thinking was that Morgana would benefit from spending time in a world that not only accepted that she had magic, but would nurture it" I said to the Terminator who had just fed me a grape "But who wants to be annoying brat".

Maybe if there was an adult option, were you could be a grown up, I'd be more enthusiastic for the possible Jump, but I could table it for now, at least until I could present this information to Morgana and find out what she desired to do. I simply felt it best to present her with a number of options that could suit the both of us.

"This Elder Scrolls universe could be a better alternative" Cameron told as she popped another grape in my mouth "Dangerous, but I would be there to protect you, and both of time periods you've listed as options have magical schools that cater for adults".

I finished chewing before answering, and this gave me a few moments in which to think. The world of the Elder Scrolls was very cool, dangerous yes, but I had my advanced tech and near ascended powers I'd be able to project myself.

On the plus side there would many cool quests to complete, and lots of awesome magical items to collect. Sure there would be a lot of fighting, but I was used to that by this point. Besides a lot of what I would have to face would be straight up monsters, which always made things simpler when it came to killing.

"Well I do like having you around" I said to cyborg.

She didn't react to hearing that. Not that I expected her to.

"No matter where we go we're going to need more storage space" I mentioned.

Cameron tilted her head as she did sometimes when in deep thought.

"You should ask Jump Chain for more storage space as a reward for finishing this Jump" she suggested.

That was a good idea.

"I'll mention it should I see her at the end of this Jump" I said "It isn't certain that I will"

At this point I was about to tell Cameron to take her top off in order to improve the view when Cortana let me know that I was time to return to my life as a knight.

"We can discuss this some more later" I said to my protector as she got off me.

And maybe we'd carry on with the feeding of grapes as well.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Down in the lower town, a man and his son who were both hiding their faces beneath the hoods of simple robes, approached a vendor. The man who had his face hidden looked around furtively before speaking to the merchant in a soft voice.

"Do you have my supplies ready?" the hooded figure asked "We must leave the city without delay".

The vendor pulled out a small black bag and then handed it to the worried looking man.

"Everything you asked for, it's all here" the merchant said "I'm sorry"

His customer looked up in surprise upon hearing that, and soon the man saw guards approaching. The two customers ducked under the vendor's stall, and broke into a run. The man shoved another vendor's wares into the guards' path, hoping to slow them down.

Soon, the fugitives reached a gate that led outside the city, but four guards were blocking it. The man and child turned and ran back into the city, becoming separated in the process. A guard leaped down from the nearby wall, sword raised, and landed a blow on the boy's arm. It was a move Iintended to wound rather than kill.

His scream was not a physical thing, it was of the mind and could only be heard by those who were sensitive to it. Despite the ban on all thing magical there were three people who heard the scream in their minds.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

 _Help. Help me. Please._

The call was so loud and so desperate that it woke me up, and I sat right up in bed, which a move so unexpected that it actually startled Cameron, who was of course unable to hear the noise in her head. Even half asleep I knew that the plea for aid had come from a boy, he was very scared and in terrible pain.

 _Please, you have to help me. Help me._

"Cortana have you got eyes on?" I asked.

My personal AI and I had prepared for this event knowing that it was possible despite the minor changes in the timeline that I must have created by now. This didn't surprise me as certain events seemed fated to happen, Morgana meeting Mordred must be one of them.

I wished to prevent this as the meeting was very important to Morgana's future, and so it had to be prevented if I could do this while aiding the druids, who I was planning to seek out for aid in the future, then all the better. Plus it would annoy the king if they got away, and that would make me smile.

Sure there was a risk as I wouldn't be able to hide the bright light that was seen when someone was beamed about, but there was no connection to me, so no one would have any reason to suspect my involvement. The ruler of this land would simply assume that the magical folk had used their powers in order to escape.

 _They're searching for me._

Mordred would be talking to Merlin right now, but the young warlock's ability to help the two druids was limited. He was powerful, but he didn't have beaming tech.

"I'm tracking both the boy and the man I assume to be his father, they're both about to be caught".

This didn't worry me.

"Cortana beam them to somewhere near by other druids" I ordered.

 _They're going to kill me!_

Then suddenly the connection was gone, with my Mystical Sensitivity Perk, I felt the boy vanish rather than see it. I could have talked back to him the same way, but there was a chance that Merlin would have heard me, so I'd not risked it. Besides I had a feeling that I'd see Mordred in good time.

For now I wanted to go back to sleep, it was still early in the day. I was just about to nod off when the alarm bells began ringing. I covered my ears with goose-feather stuffed pillows and groaned.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Later in the day I returned to my bed and collapsed upon it face first. Even my enhanced body had muscles that could get tired and I'd been marching around the city all day looking for druids who were miles away. As such it had been very long and points search.

The king had been furious about the druids escaping, and he ordered every room in the city to be looked over in case the druids were hiding there. Apparently them vanishing in a flash of light hadn't made Uther think of teleportation, he'd imagined it was just a diversion. Which to be fair it could have been.

I'd not enjoyed leading a group of guards into people's homes. But I'd been under the prince's orders, he'd given every knight command over a squad of men to aid in the searching. Normally knights didn't go around poking about in people's houses, but Uther had ordered it and so we'd had to do it.

When it came to matters of magic the king often lost leave of his senses and commanded things to be done that he wouldn't normally happened. I was amazed that the people put with it, but given how scared everyone was on Uther I shouldn't surprised that he could get away with such things. Plus he did have a large army that was filled with well armed men who had good training.

"Long day?" Cameron asked me.

I didn't move so that I could look at her, but I did address her.

"Uther doesn't seem to know how the feudal system works" I said "The nobles are suppose to protect the peasants, and in exchange they serve the nobles, we're not suppose to terrorise them, that's the job of the bad guys".

It did not sit well with me that the king used knights like they were officers in some sort of Stormtrooper army.

"Maybe I should kill him" I mused.

I'd killed plenty of people, but I didn't think I'd ever actually planned someone's death, at least not seriously. Now I was thinking up ways to slay the king. It couldn't be anything supernatural or that look supernatural as that would harden Arthur's heart against magic.

"You asked me to tell you if your behaviour changes" Cameron said as she pulled my boots of my feet "You don't normally plan to murder people".

A while back I had asked my Terminator to keep an eye on me, just in case I somehow fell under the influence of magic.

"I'm concerned for the wellbeing of the people of this world" I said to Cameron, who was doing her best to remove my armour even though I was lying face down on the bed "That's not so strange for me".

With minimal effort my bodyguard rolled me over and began to peel off more of my clothing.

"My motivation isn't revenge or to please anyone else" I assured my protector "This is about what is best for everyone".

Cameron seemed to accept my reasoning.

"Prince Arthur will come of age soon" she reminded me "And if your files are correct a Wraith will rise up and nearly kill Uther, why not help it. Uther will die and Arthur will be crown-prince and able to take the throne".

A nice idea, and I had been intending to let things play out when the Wraith appeared so the Excalibur would be created, but the sword didn't have to end up in Uther's hands. Sure a couple of knights might die, but they would accept the Wraith's challenge and that was something I should respect as a fellow knight.

"I could do that" I said as Cameron tugged something off me "But I don't want Arthur to hate magic, which he might end up doing some undead monster kills his father".

Aside from that concern I had to consider that Arthur was inexperienced, and he was a bit of a clotpole as Merlin would put it, he might make mistakes, big ones. I could be there to help, but the prince I weren't that close, although he did seem to like spending time with me. Perhaps he would seek out my council once he was king.

I didn't really want the extra responsibility, but neither did I want magic users to be hunted, not when I had to do the hunting, and I didn't think that Arthur would hunt them, at least not to the degree his father currently did. Also I had take into account that Arthur's Uncle would likely come to court and while he wouldn't team up with Morgana he might still work to undermine his Nephew.

Making Uther vanish was also an option. I could stick him in stasis within my fortress and he'd be safely contain for thousands of years, however if Uther simply vanished then Arthur the noble fool that he was would never take the throne, or stop looking for his father.

Plus if Morgana ever found that I'd helped to kill Uther she might not be so forgiving as she didn't hate him at this time. It could all come out into the open that he was her father, well then she could be pissed, and if nothing else I'd know. This kind of thing could keep me up at night, and I had enough to worry about as it was.

Add to that I had to consider the fact that I had made oaths of loyalty to the king, or at least I remembered doing so, if I betrayed Uther then I'd be breaking those oaths. Which meant that I wouldn't be a knight, not really, and I liked being a knight.

"You should rest while I prepare your bath" Cameron advised "You have plenty of time to think things over".

That was true, the prince wasn't of age yet, and other possibilities could yet present themselves. I had a powerful mind, I should utilize it and come up with an ideal solution.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"This will do" I said as I looked at myself in the reflective surface.

I couldn't go marching into the druid camp looking like a Knight of Camelot, nor as the black knight persona as that would just send the druids I intended to seek out running about in a panic. I needed their aid not their fear if I was going to help Morgana with her nightmares by acquiring an adder stone.

Hence I was now dressed in the robes of a humble traveller, and while I intended to beam to a location near the druid camp which meant I wouldn't be doing much travelling, at least I wouldn't cause a panic. And I would of course be carrying protection in the form of kinetic barriers and an environmental shield.

My armour and sword would be safe inside the special pouch of holding which I'd gotten just before the start of this Jump. That way my sword at least would be easy to get to should I need it, although the armour would be a bit more tricky to put on in an emergency.

The only weapon that I visibly carried now was a fine dagger. Compared to my near-ascended powers it wasn't of much use, but it was nice looking dagger that I'd made myself using the molecular construction technology and Mithril that I'd gotten from Matter Furnace.

Also Cameron would be nearby while out of phase, it would be interesting to see if the druids would be able to sense her presence or not.

"It'll be dark soon" I said my bodyguard "We should go now before it gets too dark".

Cameron who had been about to light some candles put out the tinder she'd been carrying, and turned to me.

"I'm ready now" she said.

Hopefully I also was.

(Line Break)

 **Woods. Albion.**

After appearing deep in the already dark woods I did a quick scan with my omni-tool and found a grouping of human life signs not far from here just as I had expected, along with some animals. The druids of this world were hippy nature loving types and as such they likely didn't eat meat, but they might take milk from any goats they kept and eggs from chickens.

Under my arm I carried a box of replicated supplies. Thanks to my rank it hadn't been hard for me to find out what the druids had needed so badly that they'd risked entering Camelot for it, and with the amounts I had this box no more druids would need to risk themselves for a good long while.

As I headed towards their camp I mentally went over what I knew about the druids. I knew that they worshipped nature, practiced magic for good and were generally a peaceful race. Although they just as capable of violence as any other group of people if pushed hard enough.

Uther Pendragon believed that they were secretly plotting to destroy him and wished to return magic to the kingdom. In reality the druids kept to themselves and didn't interfere with political matters. I knew that they practiced magic in its purest for, what people might call the light side of magic and while they acknowledge that magic can be bad, as Uther often proclaims, they believe it can be used for great good as well and strive to use it for good.

Druids are known to seek out those who have a natural ability or talent for magic to take as apprentices. Mordred was an example of this as he had the power of telepathy. Also I knew that highest ranking druids all seem to know something of Merlin, and are at least partially aware of his destiny.

 _Greetings_

I sent the word to the robed figures that I saw, they were clearly guards of some sort, but they carried only simply staffs rather than spears or swords.

 _Welcome stranger_

This was a kind of telepathy a form of magic that involves transmitting speech into a person's mind. This power allows magic users to communicate with each other without being overheard by other people. However this ability did not allow people to read anyone else's minds.

Telepathy is extremely common among the druids. In the show people like Merlin, Mordred, Morgana, Morgause, Kilgharrah the Great Dragon, and others were also capable of using this power. Using this power both the sender of the words and the receiver to be mystically sensitive, and I had a perk for that.

"Follow" one of the hooded figures instructed, using words rather than magic.

I was taken to the tent of a man called Aglain, who in the show was a gentle, kind hearted man who helped look after Morgana after she was injured by Serkets, which were nasty giant stinging bugs. He told Morgana that she could use her magic for good indicating that he believed magic was a good thing. That hadn't happened yet, and maybe it never would. Aglain seemed to be in charge of this clan, not that I imagined the druids having leaders the way most groups did.

"Thank you for seeing me" I said.

Aglain, who was a dark skinned man who wore the simple robes of one of his people, invited me to sit with him.

"We don't turn away those who come to us in need" the man replied.

I laid down the box I was carrying.

"A gift for your people" I stated.

Aglain inspected the box for a moment and then closed it.

"A generous gift" he commented "If that is what this is".

His people were peaceful, but these were dangerous times so he'd be a fool to trust a stranger.

"It's a token of friendship" I said "And as you have already guessed I do need your help".

Aglain nodded and took that to mean he would listen to my plea for aid.

"Someone I care about is affiliated with terrible nightmares" I explained "She can't sleep most nights and the dreams are affecting her health".

I could just keep healing her, but that wouldn't solve the actual problem, and while Morgana's visions could be useful right now they were more a burden than anything else. Plus there was the danger of the king discovering his powers, and while that might not be an issue for much longer depending on how things played out, that was no reason to allow Morgana to keep suffering when I could do something about it.

"And why do you think we can help?" Aglain asked me.

"I've searched for something to aid my friend, and my research led me something called an adder stone" I said.

Aglain's reaction let me know that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Such things are rare and powerful" he said.

The druids could be generous, but they wouldn't long survive if they gave away such important things.

"If you have one I'll gladly pay for it" I said "My friend's wellbeing is very important to me".

The druid considered my request.

"I don't think you care for gold, but there must be something your people need" I was now saying "I can get it for you".

While I was sure that we'd be able to make a deal I had to wonder what this was going to cost me.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

There was a knock at the door and while her maidservant normally answered she was gone for the night. Morgana considered not getting up and seeing who was at the door, but she was motivated by her curiosity, and even the cold stone floor of her room didn't deter her from finding out who was knocking at such an hour.

When she opened the door she found a serving girl standing there, the woman was holding a box, and Morgana only needed a moment to realise that this was the maid of Sir Gothic. They'd met before during a ceremony to honour the knights who'd taken part in the recent tournament.

"Cameron" said Morgana "What do you want at this late hour?".

Before replying the serving woman handed the small box over to her ladyship.

"To help with your bad dreams" the servant said "Don't tell anyone who gave it to you, and don't let the king see you wearing it".

With that Cameron left and Morgana carefully closed the door before looking inside the box. Within it was a small and smooth stone that hung off a fancy chain. Morgana wondered how this was supposed to help with nightmares, yet she couldn't help feeling that the trinket was important somehow. Her sense of this went beyond merely knowing that Sir Gothic had sent this to her secretly.

Morgana hadn't misunderstood when she'd been told not to let her guardian see the gift that must have come from Sir Gothic. Given Uther's hatred for anything magical then it was possible that this stone was enchanted or at least people might think it was if they saw it.

Knowing this Morgana wisely decided that she would only wear the gift when she tried to sleep, starting this very night, just to see if it made a difference or not. With a smile on her face her ladyship got back into bed and soon closed her eyes. Before long she was falling into a dreamless sleep.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I smiled when Cameron returned to my room.

"She took your gift" the cyborg reported.

I'd known that she would. It should help with her nightmares, and it all it had cost me was some supplies. The druids needed certain things that they couldn't get form the woods, but I could gathered them easily enough. They'd even given the adder stone in advance and as a sign of trust, a gesture that I would not forgot.

"If the kings finds out about it, and discovers what the stone actually is" Cameron said "You'll be in danger".

This didn't concern me too much.

"That's why we went to all that trouble to set up a base of operations we can fall back to" I reminded "Any trouble, such as guards kicking down my door and I get beamed away".

This was something we had discussed before.

"Not many people would know an adder stone if they saw one, and I doubt any of them would accuse the Lady Morgana of having an enchanted item" I said.

The risk was minimal, and the possible benefits great. I would have Morgana's heart sooner or later, and then I would have her as a companion. A fact that pleased me greatly.

"This is for you" Cameron told me as she handed over a vail.

I could see that the small tube contained a few black hairs.

"From the druid boy you mentioned" Cameron explained before I could ask "I took it from his bedroll while you had your meeting with their leader. He was sleeping so he never knew I was there".

I was very happy right now.

"Well done" I said to the cyborg "It will be interesting to compare to this samples we already have".

Cameron had collected many samples for me already, including the DNA of Merlin and Morgana, so if there was a gene that was connected to magical abilities I should be able to find it. Also Merlin inherited his Dragonlord powers from his father, which meant they might also be genetic. One day I'd find out, but I was in no rush.

Right now all I wanted to do was get some sleep and hope that when I woke up I might have some solution about to do about the king.


	16. Chapter 16

**Joe Lawyer**

That's something worth considering given how similar magical powers seem to be to near-ascended abilities. Something to work on later.

A list of magical items is also a good idea.

 **Hadrian Caeser**

How would cloning save the species? All of the dragons would be the same gender so they couldn't make more dragons, and a dragonlord is required to call them out of their eggs, and Jumper Gothic doesn't know the dragon language just because he gets the right genes.

Merlin's father could teach him I guess, but the power is passed down from father to son in the show so I don't think getting a dragonlord gene would help. Better to find that dragon egg and give it to Merlin's father so he can raise the baby dragon in safety at the fortress.

I was thinking that Uther couldn't have hunted all the dragons down even if the Great Dragon thinks that is the case because dragons exist in the folklore of peoples all over the planet and Uther wouldn't even know about those places.

Those dragons might be different races from the Great Dragon, they could be evil dragons, ones that don't fly, or the very magical dragons of Chinese legends so dragons can appear in this story later on.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 16**

 **Tropical Island. Merlin Verse.**

Increasing the number of satellites so that I could beam to more places on this primitive planet had been a smart thing to do as now I could reach many places on this version of Earth. Including this little slice of paradise that was near the equator, and had never known the presence of a human being until now.

I already had Cortana doing some scans for me in order to find out if there was anything out there that shouldn't be. So far she'd found no signs of say some advanced alien tech that had been left just lying around on say a crashed ship, but that didn't mean that there wasn't any out there, there were plenty of ways to hide from scans as well as things that interfered with them, and the satellites I'd set up didn't have the best scanners as I'd made them in a workshop.

Not that I minded as for now I was more interested in relaxing on this pristine beach that looking for oddities. I had a deck chair to lay in, a portable replicator at my side, and a bikini wearing Terminator who was wandering around while inspecting things that recently washed up on the shore of this tiny island. Which I felt sure was just her justification for bending over a lot while wearing a bikini bottom that could barely be considered a thong.

"Vodka and orange" I said to the replicator "On the rocks".

A moment later the drink I'd just ordered appeared in a flash of light, the tech behind the portable replicator was a mixture of Federation, Asgard and Ancient which Seven of Nine had been able to combine into an incredible piece of technology. I could get a wide range of items, including many kinds of food and drink from something the size of a treasure chest, and it all ran on just a little naquadah. Technology was amazing.

My sunglasses weren't cheap plastic, they were actually a headset of sorts and the thing other than Cameron that I was watching happened to be Cortana's avatar, who was showing me some interesting DNA.

"So Mordred are Morgana are siblings" I said.

When it came to matters of biology I lacked true expertise, but I could learn very fast and DNA was just a code that needed cracking. Besides it wasn't hard to see the similarities.

"I am 99.5 percent sure that Morgana Pendragon and the druid boy Mordred have the same mother" Cortana told me "Which is most likely a woman called Viviene, who you suspect was a magic user".

Well it explained the connection between Morgana and Mordred.

"Makes sense" I said "There's loads of versions of Arthur's story and in most of them he's related to Mordred in some way".

In this universe he wasn't related to Arthur exactly, but they did share a sister even if neither of them knew it.

"Okay so if we compare the DNA of Merlin, Morgana and Mordred we should be able to find a magical gene" I said.

Cortana did the actual work.

"I found what appears to be a autosomal gene in the DNA of Merlin, Morgana and Mordred that also now appears in your DNA, but wasn't there before" Cortana told me "I checked all the other DNA samples we have from this universe and no other human beings have this, not even Gaius who has magical abilities, which suggests that while it plays a part in deciding who gets magical powers it's not the only factor".

This made some sense to me.

"Gaius can't do the whole magical telepathy thing" I mentioned to the AI "But everyone with the gene can which suggests that my Mystical Sensitivity Perk is the genetic trait that everyone other than me inherited, but I don't have the same raw power as the others so as you just said there must be another factor".

Merlin had a dragonlord for a father and he seemed to have inherited that ability, but I couldn't see that in his DNA, I might need to track down his father and get a sample of him. In the show Merlin didn't get his dragonlord powers until after this father died so the inheritance couldn't be totally genetic, there was a supernatural force also at play which had some control over these matters. Possible the Triple Goddess, who was the main Power That Be in this reality.

"All the druids must have this gene, but not all of them can cast spells" I was now saying "Gaius can, and he lacks the gene".

Gaius obtained his powers through many years of study so magic seemed to be something you could learn even if you lack the gene, but without it you'd never be one of the most powerful spell casters around. But you could have the gene and never cast spells. It was perplexing, and while a supernatural force could be behind the confusing elements I still shrove to try to understand more about the connection between genetics and magical power.

"At least you'll be able to grant Mystical Sensitivity to people like the ATA gene" Cortana stated "If you splice this gene into all of the DNA of your companions you'll be able to have telepathic conversations with each other".

Even if we got nothing else out of this research that would be a boon. A secure means of communication was always of benefit, and while we had subspace communications technology so did a lot of other advanced civilizations.

"This Mystical Sensitivity gene does remind me a lot of the ATA gene" I muttered to myself.

The Ancient Technology Activation gene or ATA gene for short, was a specific gene found within the DNA of the Ancients that was used as a sort of "genetic key", so that only their kind could operate most of their technology. This was done for reasons of safety and security.

According to Dr. Carson Beckett, who discovered its existence, the ATA gene was always on, and worked by instructing various cells in the body to produce a series of proteins and enzymes that interact with the skin, the nervous system and the brain, allowing gene carriers to operate Ancient technology by thought alone.

in the Stargate verse the gene was introduced into the human population through interbreeding with the Ancients, as such a small percentage of humans from Earth had gene. However, since nearly 10,000 years went by since the Ancients ascended and the time humans started using the Stargate, the gene became exceedingly rare among humans, and rarer still for those who possess it to have much proficiency in its use.

The Mystical Sensitivity gene like the ATA gene seemed to have a strength of sort, and that might explain why Morgause, Mordred and Morgana, who could all have the same mother who may have been a High Priestess of the Old Religion, could be so powerful. The gene was somehow stronger in them than in others giving them more raw power than others.

Merlin was something of a special case, and as such didn't need to fit the pattern, but he too had a parent which some sort of supernatural power that the child inherited. Also his mother might have the gene as well, it could just be dormant in her for some reason.

The druids must breed with each other and that was why they all had the gene, but it wasn't as strong in them as it was it other, but some druids did have magical powers so the gene seemed to be stronger in some. Mordred was adopted into a druid clan, perhaps not just to help him learn how to control his powers, but because they wanted to expand their genepool and get more spell casters in their clan.

Arthur despite having been convinced with the aid of magic did not have this gene and didn't appear to have the Mystical Sensitivity Perk either, so simply being around magic didn't cause you develop the gene. It had to be inherited.

While this did fit in some of what I understood of human biology, at least to some extent, it didn't explain how Gaius could cast any spells, he didn't have the gene and as far as I knew wasn't descended from any magic users. So clearly magic wasn't limited to people with the right gene.

Which again suggested that there was a supernatural force somewhere that allowed people to use magic even if they had no gene for it. The Triple Goddess, who was worshipped by at least some followers of the Old Religion, seemed most likely to be the force.

I also remembered that Gaius acquired his powers through years of study, and all magic users seemed to require that, and while I had the gene as well the spellcasting ability I wasn't in the same League as the likes of Mordred, Merlin, and Morgana, I would have to get a much more expensive Perk for that.

So study was also a factor in who could and couldn't use magic as well as genetics and this outside force. Which made it all very confusing still despite what I had so far discovered.

"This gene doesn't explain how magic can be stripped from a person by a magical creature and then returned by visiting a strong source of magic" Cortana said.

She was referring to an event that happened in the show at the end of the last season when Morgana used a creature that was snuck into Merlin's chambers to strip him of his magic, but Merlin's powers were restored by the trip a special place called the crystal cave.

"If magic were easily understood it would just be another branch of science" I said to the AI, while also watching Cameron bend over to pick something up "It has rules, but it might also a will of its own, like the Force".

Which I wasn't sure I get myself the Force when I visited Star Wars since I was still learning magic, and might be for decades, making it hard to devote time to training as a Sith or Jedi, or something between the two. But that at least was something I could worry about later.

"Which can also be inherited" Cortana stated.

The multiverse was complex, and filled with many mysteries that needed solving. While I intended to figure out as many of them as I could there was some stuff I might never understand and the genetics of magic seemed to be one of them.

"You should visit that crystal cave that you mention in your files" Cortana advised "It may provide some answers".

Something within me, possible this was a product of my Mystical Sensitivity Perk, was warning me not to go. I didn't feel ready to go there at the moment.

"I'm sure that I will one day" I said to the AI.

Going to the cave could boost my magical powers, I had a feeling that they would if that was what I really wanted, but so far I'd not studied much in the way of magic, and while I had some experience in controlling great power, filling myself with magical energy might be more than I could handle at this stage.

Not that I needed to rush as I still had most of a decade to go find out. For now I was going to sit back in my deck chair, drink some vodka and orange juice, while enjoying sunbathing on a version of Earth that still had a fully intact ozone layer.

(Line Break)

 **Cosmic Warehouse. Albion.**

I'd left to go sunbathing at night and it was still dark when I returned to Camelot, so I'd decided not to bother getting much sleep this night. I'd come into the Cosmic Warehouse so that I could use its computer system, and now I was working putting a list together.

Using the files I had stored on this computer system I was working out which magical items I wanted to find and then put in this place. This required me to check out every item I could remember in the show, and then figure out a plan for acquiring it.

Later I would check my files on mythology, starting with the Celtic stuff, which was part of a large collection of information that I'd gotten from Daniel Jackson during the last Jump. I would use this priceless knowledge to add more items to the list, ones not seen or even mentioned in the show that may exist in this universe just like the adder stone which I'd given to Morgana, and given her good mood recently seemed to work.

"In the show The Mage Stone was a magical stone wielded by the renegade sorcerer known as Tauren" I said to the terminal which copied my words into this new file "From what I can remember it appears to be made out of Baltic amber, and was held in metal that was shaped into a claw".

This was an ancient and powerful magical tool capable of transmutation, which was to change the very essence of things. That power held no interest to me as I could make all the gold I wanted, as far as I knew it couldn't be used to turn say lead into naquadah, which would have been useful to me.

What did interest me was that The Mage Stone was also capable of absorbing and deflecting magical blasts of energy. Which could make handy tool if I ever had to face down some of the magical big guns like Merlin. Although if I had to do that I'd rather use my near-ascended powers, or better yet a sniper rifle.

I knew that when someone with magical powers holds the stone, it resonates and the strong magic that emanates could be felt from far away. Since I was Mystically Sensitive I should be able to feel it when it was brought to Camelot, which should be soon, and maybe Morgana would as well, it depend on how developed her abilities were. I got the sense that her powers hadn't fully awoken yet. Merlin would for sure, and I intended to take the stone before he even knew of its existence.

"The Mage Stone is much like The Philosopher's Stone in the Harry Potter verse" I told the machine "That legendary object, which exists in the stories of my original word, say that it was able to transmute any metal into gold or silver, produce the Elixir of Life and perhaps other things. The Stone was considered the "Holy Grail" of Alchemy and was long sought by Alchemists".

I recalled at this point that while the stone was in Camelot that Morgana and Uther would get into a big fight which would result in the king locking his ward up in the dungeon. That might be the best time to recruit Morgana and to leave this kingdom.

At that time I could offer Morgana the chance to see this entire world and more, as well as the chance to explore her magic. If I'd been successful in making her care for me, then she should take me up on the offer, and we could get of Camelot.

Perhaps one day when Arthur was king we could return, and I could tell that I took Morgana away for her own safety, which was partly why I wanted to take her away from, he was the forgiving sort and might take me back. I hoped so because I really, really, really, really wanted to be a Knight of the Round Table.

I could leave probes behind in this kingdom in order to keep an eye on things while I was gone, and I could time my return in such a way that I was seen as a hero. That would be very cool. But for now I needed to focus on obtaining magical items.

The Mage Stone wasn't the only crystal which I had my eye on. In the show two thugs, Dagr and Ebor, were put in the stocks by Arthur Pendragon after they initiated a bar brawl in a tavern because the barmaid Mary refused to give Dagr some money as part of his protection racket.

They wanted revenge on the prince and later visited the sorcerer called Cylferth, who gave them the Blood crystals and the Stulorne Blades which appear blunt to the eye but in reality are razor sharp. They planned to use these blunt looking blades to kill Arthur during some tournament.

Which wasn't important right now, even if I did add the information to the file. What did matter was that the Blood crystals allowed the wearer to mimic the form of anyone whose blood they touched. Which didn't have to be dangerous for anyone as there were safe ways to get blood from someone.

The Blood crystals would be useful for my group as none of us had ever been able to perfect the the process of using holograms to make a person look like someone else. Which was understandable as given my group's ability to go in and out of phase it never been very important to be able to hide in other ways, but I would still like the crystals and to find them all I would have to do was locate the sorcerer called Cylferth and pay him with easily obtained gold.

No doubt there were other items from the show that I could track down and then obtain, but that could wait I was starting to feel tired all of a sudden and I had a few things I needed to do tomorrow so I decided to head off for bed.

(Line Break)

 **Gravesight. Albion.**

"I'm the one visiting my father's grave, but you seem the sad one" Morgana commented.

She'd just finished laying some flowers before the stones and the tree that marked Sir Gorlois resting place. I'd been tasked with escorting her ladyship to this place along with a few of the guards. We were further away from Camelot than Morgana would normally ride as such I was not considered enough protection.

"I'm fine my lady" I said.

While I often omitted certain facts I rarely outright lied to people, however I just did as things were not okay with me. Last night I'd attempt to transcend my body so that I could see the objective of a holy quest and I'd failed so miserably that I was glad that I hadn't told anyone about it.

I'd kept getting distracted by new ideas. The whole thing had reminded me of the time Rodney Mckay in the Stargate Atlantis show tried to ascend in order to avoid dying, but kept getting distracted by new ideas that his advancing mind came up with. I was having that same problem every time I tried to transcend.

At one point I'd been looking out of the small window at the moon and I'd been thinking about building a satellite in order to extend the range of the transports. That way I could beam myself to the moon and walk on its surface more than a thousand years before Neil Armstrong would get there.

Actually thinking on it again I now realised that it would be better to send some bots via the beaming tech and have them place a ring platform in order to make the journey safer. Then I could move a lot of equipment to the moon and build myself a moon base. That would be cool.

"You're not telling me the honest truth" Morgana gently accused, as we made our way back to the horses and the waiting guards "Tell me what troubles you Sir Gothic".

I took a few deep breath.

"The king's commands of late have left me a little unsettled" I admitted.

This was partly what was bothering me. There were other matters, but the king's misuse of his knights had really taken the shine of becoming a Knight of Camelot. Like many boys who'd read of the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table I'd imagined myself going on quests and battling monsters. The reality was proving to be disappointing, and my inner child didn't like that at all.

"Knights are meant to protect people not barge into their homes while looking for people who just wanted to visit the market" I told Morgana.

I could forgive the king for having me wander the corridors of the citadel at night. Protecting the Royal Household was part of my duties, but the king was taking things too far, and I knew that it would only get worse as time went by.

Which was why I was giving serious thought to killing Uther while hoping that Arthur was ready to take the throne despite the fact that he was clotpole. However I couldn't just come out and tell Morgana that, although letting her know that I didn't approve of her guardian's actions might bring us closer together.

"Arthur mentioned his own displeasure at the king's commands concerning the druids" Morgana told me.

I remembered very well the sour look on the prince's face as he issued orders to the knights. None of us had been happy about the commands, but we were sworn to obey.

My thinking was that if the prince were to rebel against his father for the man's tyranny that the knights would side with the Arthur, but the once and future King loved his father to much for that, and he would be loath to start even a short civil war.

"That doesn't surprise me" I said.

By now we were back at the horses, and here there were guards who would no doubt report anything they heard to the ruler of this land, as such we weren't free to speak.

"Shall we return to the citadel, my lady?" I asked.

I'd been ordered to take her to this place and bring her back, so she didn't really have a choice, but there was no harm in letting her pretend she could decided.

"We shall, Sir Gothic" she replied.

And with that we set off back to the castle.

(Line Break)

 **Isle of the Blessed. Albion.**

Since I knew that my teacher would most likely be dead within the next few months I did not object when she once more summoned me to her island for my lessons in magic. It was pretty easy to get out of my duties for a while and I didn't have much travel time thanks to my transporters.

When I found Nimueh she was cooking what smelled to be venison stew. Since she wasn't finished I was able to take some time to explore the cave that she was currently using as a home. She seemed to change cave every so often, which made sense as there were people out there hunting magic users and even Nimueh was vulnerable when she was sleeping.

I found this cave to be surprisingly cozy. There was a huge, warm fire in the center that somehow didn't end up filling the cave with smoke. Around the fire were three large piles of furs, all soft and warm. There was a back part of the cave, where Nimueh kept her belongings. Such as her clothes, candles, jewels and what I guessed to be magical artifacts.

"Dinner is ready" the High Priestess called out.

I almost didn't take the stew, thinking that she may have drugged it, or put a potion into it, but if Nimueh wanted to do me any harm then she could have easily done so by now. She seemed more interested in teaching others than hurting Uther, which would explain why she didn't actually do much during her time in on the show despite being the big bad for the first season.

Also if Cortana detected that something was up with my life signs, she'd beam to the fortress base and right into a stasis booth if needs be while Cameron figured out what was wrong, or into the Goa'uld sarcophagus that I'd recently taken out of the Cosmic Warehouse, over using that device made humans crazy, but that risk was worth it if prevented the end of Jump Chain.

The stew just turned out be yummy food, and while I ate Nimueh took the time to start my lessons. I knew that Cortana would ensure that this was all recorded so that at a later date I would be able to add the information to a data disc or even that holocron I planned to make, or at into the grimoire I planned to write.

However while I could review the information at a later date I paid close attention to her words as these lessons were valuable, and not to listen would be plain rude. There was no sense offending someone as powerful as Nimueh, it could be bad for my health.

(Line Break)

 **Isle of the Blessed. Albion.**

The next morning I woke up to find that the once dark cave was now filled with gentle sunlight. Which didn't really make sense because there were no holes, cracks or windows, natural or otherwise within the cave. As such I couldn't tell where the light was coming from. Even scanning the place didn't help, but with my Mystical Sensitivity Perk I could feel energy all around me so I figured that some magic spell must be behind this.

I wandered around the cave and found that Nimueh was nowhere to be found, so I took this chance to acquire some of her DNA, which wasn't hard as we'd spent the night together on the same pile of furs and while her hair was dark like mine was, it was a lot longer than my hair.

Cameron wasn't hanging about out of phase this time, as someone needed to keep an eye of my fool of a cousin, so I hid the sample inside my special bag of holding, which was something only I could get into thanks to the features of the bag.

Before long I headed outside of the cave, and I must have gotten turned around at some point as I found myself on a part of the island that I'd never seen before. In fact since the island wasn't that large so soon I figured that the cave had an exit that led to somewhere nearby.

I was now standing by a beautiful stream which was somewhere in a peaceful forest. I found it to be a serene place, and I felt a sense of calm within myself. My Mystical Sensitivity Perk was telling that I was safe here and that there was some sort of power here. I imagined I'd have none that even without the perk.

On a whim I decided to go take a morning dip. Thanks to the Evercleansed Perk I didn't actually need to wash, but that didn't mean I didn't enjoy bathing. So I carefully placed my clothes on a dry spot by the river bed. Now naked I got into the stream, which was deeper than it looked, and began to wash as best I could with soap or a washcloth.

A moment later I heard a female voice shouting and when I turned I saw that a huge wave of water that was heading towards me. I didn't know what to do. I was without any of my tech and my near-ascended powers weren't much help against tidal waves. Well that wasn't true, I could control the elements with those powers, there was just no time.

 _Scildan!_

I'd not removed the magical ring that I nearly always wore, which projected a shield before me. This did not stop the wave entirely, but it slowed it down enough for it to be not harmful. In fact I barely even felt the water pass me by, it only tickled my bare body.

At this point I amazed at what I had just done, so I just stood there with my hand raised into the air. The power that surged through me felt incredible. I had never in my life felt anything like it, and even with the ring doing the real work I had felt the magic pass through me, like I was a mere conductor and it was a electrical current, only in a very pleasant way. Even my near-ascended powers didn't provide that kind of rush.

"Nicely done," I heard the woman, who turned out to be Nimueh say "A powerful defence".

Right now she was standing by the side of the stream. If she noticed that I'd used the ring she didn't show any signs of it.

"You must let your emotions fill you when you perform magic, and let the emotion show in your voice" Nimueh told me.

With that she turned to leave.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

Looking around I expected to find my clothes washed away or soaked, only they were dry, in fact nothing looked as it hit by the water. Everything seemed calm as before. She not been trying to hurt me, instead she been testing with an illusion of sorts.

"Was that an illusion?" I wondered, wanting to know more about what had just happened.

Nimueh couldn't answer me as she had already vanished.

(Line Break)

 **Wilderness. Albion.**

After my very alarming wake up call this morning, my teacher took me on a hike deep into what I was coming to think of as an enchanted woods. I could feel the sense of calm here.

"This is my private spot," Nimueh said, while sitting down on a patch of grass, "there is another field where the remaining High Priestesses meet, close to here, but no man may go there".

Which made me want to go even more, but I restrained myself.

"Come sit with me" my teacher said.

As I sat down next to her I noticed that Nimueh was sitting cross-legged and breathing deeply while she had her eyes closed.

"Close your eyes and breath, try to feel the rhythm of nature" my teacher instructed.

That didn't make any sense to me. Of course I was aware that nature had cycles, such as the four seasons, however I had no idea if that was what Nimueh meant, or if she was talking about something else.

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

While I had taken up mediation while living in the Cloister with a group of humans who'd been attempting to ascended via spiritual means, that had been more about looking inward, and no so much about trying to sense what was around me. So while my near-ascended abilities might seem magical to an outside observer, they were actually very different.

"If you listen, you can hear it" Nimueh instructed.

Lacking anything better to do I sat quietly and listened to my surroundings. I could hear the wind as it moved the leaves in the trees. I could hear the birds singing in the trees, they were some distance away so it wasn't distracting. I felt the clam and peace here, but there was no rhythm whatever that meant.

"Alright, get up," I heard Nimueh say after a while.

"But I haven't.." I protested.

She didn't let me finish.

"It can take years for someone to fully understand the ebb and flow of nature, and there will time for you learn that. Today was just the start" Nimueh told me "But for now I still have much to teach you".

Before I'd even gotten up she was telling me more about magic.

"To perform magic successfully, to cast spells like you did at the stream you have to let singular feeling fill you up" I was told "Smaller bit of magic don't require more than just your will, like when I taught you how to light a fire with your mind".

I remembered that lesson very well. It hadn't taken me long to master, however since I could have done it much more easily with my near-ascended powers the lesson by itself hadn't been of much value. Of course I understood that like with anything else a person needed to learn it was best to start of with something simple. We all do basic sums before learning algebra.

"Certain movements will help you direct your emotions into aiding with magic. I will show you a few movements that work to help with more complex spells" she said "Watch closely".

She crouched down deep into the grass. With a single movement, she turned in a half circle, still keeping close to the ground, and whisked her arms up. From the top of her fingers came little flickers of blue fire that soon became a circle of fire that was kept in a small circle around her.

I could tell that she'd used anger to fuel this magical fire, but also that she had incredible control of it as the fire was easily controlled and didn't seem to be harming her at all. As anger and fire were closely linked when it came to magic.

"The movements help, but they simply direct the magic, which is fuelled by the emotions," she explained "Magic is a power than anyone can learn to harness even if few can master it, now show me that you harness it".

With another gesture she made the fire vanish.

"Now you must think of something that makes you feel angry" I was instructed "Something very strong, a memory, or think of a person who makes you feel anger, and let it fill you up completely"

I did just that. Remembering the times when things I'd seen in the different universes had made me angry. The sheer stupidity and selfishness of others, the needless cruelty and the injustices that I'd seen. It wasn't that different from the use of some of near-ascended powers so I was quickly able to harness my anger and turn into fire. Which I used to set a tree on fire.

Nimueh quietly clapped her hands and muttered a few words. It rained just long enough to prevent a forest fire from starting up and then stopped. Which again was something I could do with my near-ascended powers, which made me wonder if there was really that much difference between being a powerful magic user and a near-ascended human.

"You're powerful than I realised" Nimueh said "Very good"

I could see now why someone people became addicted to this kind of power, it was a big rush and I promised myself that I could be careful in how I used it. I couldn't allow myself to become of those people who was fuelled by rage and hate.

"Let's return to the island" said Nimueh "Before you go I have a few more things to show you".

I knew that soon there would be a special ceremony that would recognise Arthur as the crown-prince of Camelot. On that night Nimueh would unleash an undead thing known as a Wraith as part of her plans for revenge on Uther. I planned to watch events closely, but not to interfere as I didn't want to upset my teacher and I also didn't want to prevent Merlin from creating Excalibur. Besides there was a good chance that the Wraith would kill Uther I really wouldn't want to miss that.


	17. Chapter 17

**Yinko**

He will seek out magic users in other parts of the world later on in the story, when he goes travelling around with Morgana, which will be a seperate story if all goes to plan.

Right now I'm focusing more on the Camelot stuff before expanding out. He's got ten years in this universe so there's plenty of time for exploring.

Somehow I can see cloning a powerful magical creature as something that can go horribly wrong. Still I'll give it some thought.

 **JanusGodOfPossibilities**

No I haven't see that show.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 16**

 **Crystal Cave. Valley of the Fallen Kings.**

The Crystal Cave, which was a large cave which was filled with crystals, as the name suggested, but it was far more important than it might sound. According to the seer, Taliesin a man who I soon hoped to met, it was the place where magic began, though it is unclear whether he meant that the cave was the source of all magical energies in the world or if it he meant that magic was discovered by someone who'd entered the cave

In the time before the Great Purge, followers of the Old Religion talked about the cave with reverence, yet I'd found that there was actually very little written about the place, at least in the books that I'd read so far, and I'd read a lot as my near-ascended mind allowed to be absorb a lot of information very quickly. Of course I had only had a limited selection as books weren't so easy to come by in this world.

Thanks to watching the Merlin TV show I'd always had a rough idea of where this cave could be found for some time now, and thanks to probes, which were under Cortana's control, I'd been able to find the place, yet despite that I'd put off coming here as I hadn't felt that I was ready for this place.

Now things were different. I had a sense that things would change for me soon, that I would be forced to make some difficult choices in the future, and that I needed some kind of guidance. That was why I'd come here now, because this place was not just some cave with pretty crystals in it, this was a place of power were someone could through see through time and space.

The cave could even restore the magic of someone who had lost their powers, so it might be able to boost the magical abilities of someone like myself who didn't have as much power as those who had been born with magic. I didn't want to be one of the magical power houses of this world, but it would be nice if I had a bit more juice so to speak.

There was a man waiting for me at the entrance of the cave. At once I knew that he was Taliesin, who had been a Seer to the great Kings, in the time of Old Religion. He was suppose to have died hundreds of years ago, yet he still appeared when Merlin visited the cave in the show, and he was here now. He looked like an old man in simple robes, but I knew he was much more than that.

I suspected that he was in fact dead and the power of the cave allowed him to return to act as a guide. In the last part of the final season of Merlin the young warlock's own father, who had died years before, appeared when Merlin visited the cave so the the man I was seeing right now might be a creation of cave, a way for it to communicate with visitors. If so then in some sense the cave was alive.

"Welcome Sir Gothic" greeted the Seer.

That he knew I was a knight was no surprise as I was dressed as one, but the fact that he knew my name was a bit more impressive. Scrying didn't give people sound only sights, which made me think that the man I was seeing was in fact a manifestation of the cave. Much like how Luke saw his father when going into that cave while training with Yoda, only this cave was good rather than evil.

"Master Taliesin" I said.

Respectfulness seemed very wise right now. Besides I was sure that he was a master of his craft, and therefore worthy of the title. And even if this wasn't him then there was no sense in being rude.

"Your friend should wait outside" Taliesin said next "The cave would not welcome her".

Cameron was here, out of phase, she spent a lot of time watching over me while going unseen, she was like some sort of guardian angel, only with the halo or the wings, or well anything angelic really. Plus in some cases magical and technology didn't mix well together, this could be one of those times.

That Taliesin knew she was here was no big shock. The Great Dragon could see those who were out of phase so it made sense that a Seer could, assuming he was the famous Seer. If he wasn't then nothing he did or spoke of would surprise me.

"Wait out here" I ordered my Terminator.

I couldn't see or hear her, but the reverse was not the case, she would have heard me, and she would obey.

"Follow me" Taliesin instructed.

I did as asked and I was led deep inside the cave. I sensed the power of the crystals before I ever saw them, and the sight alone was impressive enough to make having come here a worthwhile trip.

"So why have you come here?" I was asked.

I was amused by the fact that the Seer had to enquire.

"Don't you know?" I asked back.

Taliesin gave me a small grin.

"The crystals show me many thing Sir Gothic" the Seer told me "But not everything".

I nodded upon hearing that. I hadn't expected this place to tell anyone too much about the future. There were things I wanted to know, but I was sure that there was a lot I didn't want to know about.

"Look into the crystals Sir Gothic" the Seer said while pointing deeper into the cave "I can't control what you will see, so I can only hope that it will useful to you".

I walked further in so that I had crystals all around me, and then they began to show me things. For a few moments it was all too much for even my mind to focus on, however before long I was able to start processing what I was seeing.

While the future was always in motion it could also be shaped by those with the will to change things. Fate had a hand in things, but free will existed as well. I knew this because I had altered the fates of whole galaxies with carefully planned actions and clever use of information.

Because of this the crystals showed me many futures, some of the images appeared and vanished quickly, and I knew that this were possible futures, just unlikely ones.

The images became easier to understand and I was shown what I guessed to be more likely futures. I saw myself killing Uther Pendragon, crossing blades with Prince Arthur, duelling with different powers against sorcerers and sorceresses, some I knew of and some I didn't recognise.

I saw Morgana quite a lot, and not always at Camelot. In many of the images shown to me by the crystals we seemed to be in exotic locales. As the images passed before my eyes I began to understand that unless I buggered things up, Morgana and I would be spending some of our time while in this world learning from the magic users of different cultures from all over this world.

Our travellers together wouldn't end there. We would got to places not just in this world, but in others I'd not yet ventured to. Also I saw us on the bridges of sailing vessels and a few different starships. By the looks of things she'd get past the culture shock I'd worried about.

My hope was to talk Morgana away from Camelot so that she could avoid her destiny, and it seemed that I would have that chance. However I also a slightly older version of myself sitting at the Round Table, an idea that made my inner geek squeal like a teenage girl meeting her favourite pop idol. If that feeling could be expressed as a sound it would shatter the crystals in this cave.

By the looks of things it might be possible for Morgana and I to leave Camelot and then return later once Uther was six feet under and Arthur was king. I could imagine him forgiving me for running off with Morgana if I did something to earn my way back into this good graces. Heck he let Mordred become a knight, so I would just have to save Arthur's life as well.

That idea seemed to be a promising one, as I saw myself and Arthur fighting together against threats I couldn't quite make out. However I did notice that Arthur carried Excalibur into battle, which answered one of my questions about the future. I would have to stand by and let people die so that Merlin would have to ask the Great Dragon to create the famous sword.

There were more visions now, fainter images, which made think that they might be far into the future. I saw myself with a silver bladed lightsaber fighting alongside what had to be the Avengers, guess a Marvel Jump could be in my future as well as a Star Wars one.

More possible futures were now being shown. Me in the world of Harry Potter, as a child, having chosen that for some insane reason. I saw myself in the world of Elder Scrolls as a mighty wizard who could alter reality with a gesture and few well chosen words.

I saw myself in some other places that I knew by sight. The Doctor's TARDIS for example. The Watchtower which was used by the Justice League. The home of the Charmed Ones. The bunker that the Winchesters had as their home and base of operations. I saw myself in the Senate Halls of the Old Republic in the Star Wars galaxy. Plus lots of places I didn't recognise.

Not everything that I saw was pleasing to the eye. I saw horrors as well as wonders, monsters, demons and other things that could prey upon mankind. I knew that I would have to face them even though hunting evil creatures wasn't really a purpose of mine.

By now the images were barely visible, little more than blurry still images that faded away before I could take them in. I did make out a few things, however they were totally lacking in context and I got the sense that they were so far into the future that they might as well be guesswork.

The power of this place had its limits, and the glimpses into the future came to an end. I didn't think my magical powers had increased but that was okay, as I figured that before I left this world I'd return to this cave one time. I would get what I desired as long as showed patience and respect.

"Do you see what you desired to see?" I was asked as I headed towards the exit of the cave "The meaning of what the crystals show you isn't always apparent".

I wasn't sure how to respond to this question, because I wasn't totally sure as to what I'd been expecting when I'd arrived here. I didn't have enough experience with things like visions to understand if this experience had been a good one or not. Although since I'd not seem images of death and doom I figured that my time here hadn't been as tramatic as it could have been.

"Let's just say I'm not disappointed" I replied.

I was about to leave, as while this place wasn't unwelcoming it was sacred so I shouldn't just hang around, when Taliesin reached out and handed me two crystals.

"One is for knowledge, the other is for a weapon" was all he had to say on the matter.

I left the cave and stood outside it for a few moments so that I could examine the two small crystals I'd just been given.

"Knowledge and a weapon" I muttered to myself.

I engaged my brain and sussed out what was meant by 'knowledge' in just a few seconds. The more rectangular shaped crystal did look like one of the crystals the Ancients and the Goa'uld used to store data on, and it was very magical. Perhaps it was meant to be part of the holocron about magic I was planning to build.

My intention with that device had been to download all the information I could gather while in this world on the subject of magic into a crystal and then install an VI to act as interface. If I were to use a magical crystal as the data storage device then it could become something more than a database. It could be much like the holocrons used by the Jedi and the Sith.

The other crystal I wasn't so sure about, not until I saw the answer when looking into the crystal, I saw the lightsaber I'd seen myself holding in one of the visions, and so it was obvious that this little gem was meant to be part of that weapon. I didn't know enough about lightsabers to fully understand what role the crystal played in that device, but I knew that it was very important.

These were indeed great gifts, and they had clearly come from someone or something that far more powerful and wise than of the mortal users of magic in this world. Perhaps the Triple Goddess herself wanted me to have these items.

If this was indeed the case then I wasn't going to look a gift goddess in the mouth. I would take the two crystals and place them in my Cosmic Warehouse. Then I would make good use of them when the time came. For now I would return to my life as a knight and bid my time until the opportunity to leave with Morgana presented itself. Which I was sure would be soon, and hopefully soon enough to avoid a lot of trouble.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

As I escorted Morgana and my cousin Maeve through the marketplace I kept a close eye on her. At some point around this time she was suppose to fall ill because of some warlock with nasty burns on his face nearly killed before curing her as part of a plot to get close to the King. As of yet this hadn't happened, although it should have, so I knew that meant canon events were changing. Not all of them but enough that I couldn't be sure that things would play out as expected.

Still it was possible that the magic user with the scars had simply been delayed from carrying out his plan, and that he would make a move before too long. He'd be hard to miss so if he did plan to slip one of his magical bugs onto Morgana say by bumping into her in the marketplace I should be able to see him coming.

He might be able to disguise himself with magic, or just do what he did in the show and send Morgana some flowers, so my ability to protect her was limited, but this didn't mean that I shouldn't try my best. And I could at least monitor the young woman.

I might be able to heal her if she did get sick, however since magic would be involved I couldn't be certain about that, and I rather avoid having to find out. Sure I could let Morgana die and then just put her in the Sarcophagus, but given that she had the potential to become evil within her I'd prefer not to stick her in a device that was known for corrupting people, even if the risk of that happening were rather low.

The best course of action to take would be let the warlock heal her, and then use my beaming tech to send him into orbit, thus saving everyone a lot of trouble, but that could wait until he actually turned up. For all I knew he'd been killed on his way here by bandits.

Another issue I had think about concerning Morgana was what to do if I was able to convince her come away with me once she'd turned against Uther, which would be sometime in the near future. I knew from the show that once the king had calmed down he would worry about Morgana's wellbeing again and send troops out to look for her. In the show he did this and did stop sending men out despite their losses until Morgana was returned to him.

I had a few options. I could clone Morgana, and not give the clone the Mystical Sensitivity gene so that the copy shouldn't have any magical abilities. The clone wouldn't know that she wasn't Morgana and while her no longer getting nightmares would be odd to some, no test they could run would prove that the clone was a copy.

The clone could live out Morgana's life and not have the real Morgana's problems, but what I do with the clone if we ever returned to Camelot? Once Uther was gone it would be much safer for us here in Camelot, and did want to come back in order to become a knight of the Round Table.

I couldn't just kill the clone, I could stick her in stasis and set her free later, but that seemed cruel, even if it was humane option. The clone could live out a great life in a new universe and I could supply the clone with great wealth as a reward. It was an option to consider if nothing else.

At least keeping an eye for threats gave me something to do while wandering around the market. At the moment Morgana and Maeve were deep in conversation about noble lady stuff, and Morgana's maid, Gwen as she mostly called, was actually getting Cameron to chat about something. Clearly my Terminator was making good use of her ability to blend in with humans when required to.

As we went around the market, the two noble women looked for presents for Prince Arthur, his 21st birthday was coming up, but mostly they were just shopping. I'd already used my Virtual Construction technology in order to make something nice for the prince's birthday.

The ceremony that would confirm Arthur as crown prince, officially making him the air to the throne, even though really he already was, would take place the day after the prince's birthday. Meaning that the festivities would be spread out over two days, and only be ruined when Arthur's Uncle, who'd been killed by his father about twenty years ago, made an appearance at the ceremony.

It wasn't so odd for somebody's Uncle to turn up at an important occasion and ruin the event, but generally speaking they didn't come back from the dead and start killing people. Or at least they hadn't in my original family. Mostly they'd drank too much, did some silly dancing, and gave me some money.

As for the prince's present from me. I'd already taken care of that. I'd used my Virtual Construction technology to create for him a fine dagger that might just be made from steel, but it was very good steel, and the handle was ivory. Not true ivory of course, I didn't kill some poor animal for it, however the prince wouldn't know the difference.

I made careful note of the kinds of thing that drew Morgana's eye as when I took her away from this place I intended to make sure she had things that were make her comfortable in her new home.

Which would be in a fortress, surrounded by ice and snow, and filled with things she wouldn't understand. As such it would be important to make sure she had a bedroom that was decorated in styles she would enjoy and would be filled with things she could understand, and hopefully also enjoy. This should make things easier for her, and help to combat homesickness.

What caught the eye of Morgana and my cousin were the pretty things, as I'd expected, as well as the nice smelling stuff, such as perfumes. Morgana seemed to like them a lot, so I made a mental note to replicate stuff like scented candles and soaps for her. I intended to spoil her quite a bit during our time together.

The eyes of the womenfolk were also drawn to jewellery. I wasn't someone who carried much for accessories. Even my formal clothing which was worn at special events was more practical than decorative. I valued objects for their uses not their appearances.

This was why my Cosmic Warehouse was mostly full of data disks and other means of storing information as well as physical examples of my kinds of advanced technology that I felt would be needed at some point and couldn't be easily copied.

Of course since I had matter replication technology only a few rare materials couldn't be mass produced by me, which rendered stuff like silver and gold worthless to me. Even diamonds were easy for me to create as they were made out of nothing more than tightly stacked carbon atoms.

By the looks of things this shopping trip was going to take a while, and it would come out of my pocket since my cousin didn't even have a job. Thankfully I could just replicate more money as I needed, yet I still couldn't help sighing when Maeve asked me for some more coins.

For me no matter where I was in the whole multiverse, shopping remained the same painful experience for me. Perhaps it always would be.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Sir Owain was a young and brave man however he was inexperienced when compared to a Knight of Camelot such as myself, and no match for Arthur, yet the young man, a boy really, felt ready to take on the prince in an important test. Should he fail he'd have to go back to training as a squire, but should he succeed he would be knighted by the king.

I figured that Owain would soon pass the test, as he was one of the two knights who in the show was killed by the Wraith that my magical teacher would soon raise from the grave.

While I could prevent that in a number of ways, one way would be destroy the body before it was raised, but if I did that then Merlin wouldn't create Excalibur with the help of the Great Dragon, and according to the visions Arthur would need that sword. Which meant I shouldn't prevent its creation.

Alas I could not think of way of saving the young man without preventing the sword's creation. The duel would be to the death, and while in theory I could save someone who'd recently died either by using my powers or the Sarcophagus, however I'd never put that to the test.

I couldn't just bring him back to life and let his resume living in Camelot. Uther wouldn't accept a miracle he assume that someone had brought Owain back with magic and then he'd have his soldiers mistreating his citizens again as they searched the city for a sorcerer.

So I would restore Owain to life if possible, wipe his most recent memories, and stick him into stasis until after Uther died. Once Arthur was king I could send Owain back to Camelot and Arthur would accept it as a miracle like he did for Lancealot in the show.

That was the future, right now Owain was about to face the Prince in combat as the final test. He didn't have to defeat Arthur, he simply had to avoid defeat for a certain amount of time. I remembered my test, although it was just a memory, I'd done well enough, nothing remarkable, but I'd held my ground.

Owain did better than I remembered doing during my test. He not only held his ground, he actually managed to land a blow on Arthur before getting knocked on his ass, but that was after all the sand was in bottom of the timer. Once the test was done we knights went to congratulate the new knight.

"Congratulations Sir Owain" I said.

It wouldn't be official until the knighting ceremony, which would be soon, but there was harm in flattering the young man. Hopefully he'd live long enough to get some use out of the title.


	18. Chapter 18

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 18**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

In the burial vaults that were deep underneath the citadel, a shadowy figure made her way between the tombs, she was looking for the final resting place of a specific knight. Not just any knight would do, she needed one whose spirit hated Uther as much as she did.

Nimueh could kill the king directly, but she didn't simply want him dead, she wanted to destroy him, to ruin him. To make Uther watch as everything he cared about was destroyed. Which was what she had been forced to go through during the Great Purge.

Eventually, she found the tomb she was looking for. This knight had been family to the king during his life and when Uther struck him down. Now the knight would champion her in death, and finally get the revenge he'd longed for so much while still breathing.

Nimueh needed a moment to prepare herself. Raising the dead was no easy task, even for someone with her sheer amount of power and wealth of knowledge.

 _"Gehíere mé'wan cniht áwæce. Beo strangra ond steacra for brecþ wáne. Úprærest wærc, Uther Pendragon!"_

The tomb cracked open, and a hand that was clothed in a heavy looking black gauntlet reached upwards. Nimueh smiled in glee; soon they would both have their revenge.

Sir Tristan de Bois would fight once again.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I looked over and smiled as I saw Morgana who stood with Uther and a small group of knights while they waited for the ceremony to begin. Today was the day that Arthur would be proclaimed crown-prince, and therefore one step closer to the throne that was rightfully his.

Looking around some more I noticed that the newest knight, Sir Owain, had caught Maeve's eye. She approached him and smiled flirtatiously.

"So, Sir Owain, I hear you actually landed a blow when you fought Prince Arthur during your final test," my cousin commented.

Owain smiled, clearly pleased to be getting attention from a noble lady, even if she was from a minor family.

"That's correct, my lady" he said.

This made me frown as I was now realising that the first man who might be a promising prospect for marriage to my cousin was going to die tomorrow. Which would upset my cousin quite a bit, hopefully I would have to deal with that.

"I'm sure the kingdom will be that much safer, now that you've joined the knights of Camelot," Maeve said.

She was giving the young man all the signals as far I could tell, the smiles, the batting of the eyelids, the whole playing with the hair thing. Apparently some aspects of flirting remained the same regardless of what century you were in.

"Have no fear," Owain assured "I would never allow any harm to come to you".

"I'm sure" my cousin replied,

Anything further that Maeve might have said was cut off when the doors opened to admit Arthur, who was wearing chain mail, a red cape and his crown. Which made look a little silly in my view, but the court seemed to see things differently.

Maeve returned to her place by my side while Arthur walked down the hall and knelt before his father. A few moments later Uther held out a scepter and the ceremony began.

"Do you solemnly swear to govern the people of this kingdom according to the statutes, customs and laws laid down by your forebears?" Uther asked.

The king was speaking very formally right now, as she should be as this was very serious.

"I do, Sire," Arthur answered.

"Do you promise to exercise mercy and justice in your deeds and judgements?" Uther continued.

"I do, Sire" his son said.

Uther held out the sceptre, so that it was now level with Arthur's shoulder.

"And do you swear allegiance to Camelot, now and for as long as you shall live?" was the final question.

Prince Arthur reached up and took the sceptre, grasping it firmly.

"I, Arthur Pendragon, do pledge myself the protection of this kingdom and its peoples" the prince promised.

Uther smiled proudly.

"Now, being of age and heir apparent, from henceforth you shall be Crown Prince of Camelot" Uther declared just before leading the court in a round of applause.

Arthur rose to his feet and looked around at the court, and I could see that he was smiling. There was a lot of clapping and cheering.

Suddenly, an armoured rider on a black horse crashed through the stained-glass window at the far end of the hall. The rider's black armour bore the scuffs and scratches of countless battles, and his face was concealed by an imposing great helm. He carried a black shield, which had a white falcon painted on it.

That was a crest that did not belong to any current knight known here in Camelot, but I knew who it belonged to and what this dramatic entrance meant.

Arthur and many of the knights drew their swords. A few of the servants fled, as did some of the courtiers, but most just backed away so that the knights and guards could do their jobs. I was even holding Caliburn just in case this undead creature went on a rampage rather than issue a challenge.

The black knight advanced down the centre of the room, and halted in front of the king as he rode I noted that his horse seemed normally enough, which in itself was odd because it had just come crashing through a window, and aside from that horses tended to be able to sense the unnatural and shied away from it.

Before anyone spoke or took any action the black knight made a move, he threw down his gauntlet, which was how a knight issued a challenge.

For a few moments, there was total silence. Then Arthur sheathed his sword. He bent down to pick up the gauntlet, but Owain beat him to it, as I knew he would.

"I, Sir Owain, accept your challenge" he said.

The knight's head turned to Owain so that the wraith could make eye contact with the young man. Not that he had eye if my memory served.

"Single combat. Noon tomorrow. To the death" said the undead thing.

With that he turned his horse and rode away.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

After the ceremony, Arthur and Merlin went to the prince's chambers, and they were soon joined by Morgana.

"He shouldn't have picked up the gauntlet!" Arthur was soon saying.

Merlin was worried, but also confused, as were many others about what was going on. This stranger had come from nowhere it seemed, yet he clearly had a grudge against the rulers of this kingdom and the knights who served them. Arthur just seemed to be angry about the whole thing while Morgana was mostly concerned.

"So put an end to it," Morgana urged.

Arthur sighed, he felt so helpless.

"The challenge has been taken up, the fight cannot be stopped" he said.

"Then fight in his place," Morgana suggested.

 _If only it were that simple_ the prince thought.

"I can't," Arthur said.

"Why not?!" Morgana demanded to know.

"Owain picked up the gauntlet" the prince said "Owain is the one who must fight, that's the Knight's Code".

To Morgana that didn't matter, but she wasn't a knight. Arthur understood that while he could order Owain not to fight, if he did so then he would lose a promising young knight just as surely as if he died, as Owain would be thought of as a coward. His honour would be destroyed and he'd lose all faith himself. His life as a knight would be over, and that might be worse than death.

"He knew that," Arthur added quietly.

With that the prince turned his back on the king's ward, telling her that this conversation had come to an end.

"But it's a fight to the death!" Morgana said, very worriedly.

Arthur did not look back.

"I know" was all he could say.

Morgana fumed as she left the room. Clearly I'd disappointed her.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Morgana turned to Gwen, who had been watching her mistress pace the room in silence. Ever since she'd returned to her room all her ladyship had done was fret and pace the room.

"Doesn't he care at all?" the king's ward

The serving girl wasn't sure if she was being addressed, but she answered the question anyway.

"Of course he cares, my lady, but he is bound by the law," Gwen said sadly. "As are we all".

Morgana stood still for a moment, looking troubled. Then she walked over to her vanity, opened a small box and pulled out a red ribbon. "Give this to Owain in the morning. Let's hope there's some truth to that superstition about having a lady's favour. For now I want to be alone".

Her ladyship waited until her maidservant had left before picking up a cloak, and heading out of her room. She hadn't given up yet. There was one more person she could talk to about all this madness.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Not long after I'd returned to my room I found myself employing one of the lessons that Nimueh had taught me somewhat recently. Only this time I wasn't trying to connect to nature, and hear its rhythms, rather I was trying to sense what was going in and around the castle.

I was doing this because I wanted to try to sense the Wraith that was currently standing not that far from below my window. I had a perk to help with this sort of thing, but I didn't seem to be sensitive enough to mystical things to feel the Wraith. Perhaps I simply needed to develop my powers further.

All I could feel at first was my own worries and concerns, and then something did register, and I turned to see that Nimueh was here. But she hadn't come in through the door, I'd have heard the door open and close, which meant that she could have been hiding in her waiting for me, but that would have made Cameron react as a bodyguard should in such a situation.

Oddly my Terminator didn't react at all, it was as if she couldn't see Nimueh, who was currently standing right in front of me. Then when Cameron walked right through Nimueh I understood what was happening here.

"Some sort of astral projection?" I asked "Either that or I'm going crazy".

My teacher just smiled in response to that.

"What do you want?" I asked.

She wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to show off her powers.

"Just to tell you to stay out of my way" Nimueh said "Remember that you owe me and all I ask from you is to stand aside and let my champion do its work".

I would have spoken more, but my Terminator interrupted me.

"Who are you talking to?" Cameron asked me.

I shushed her.

"You mean stay out of the Wraith's way" I said to Nimueh.

She smiled again.

"You won't be able to stop him" she told me "He'll kill you if try".

Nimueh didn't know that I owned a sword that had been imbued with the power of dragon flame, and that sword could destroy the Wraith.

Perhaps we would have spoke more on the matter, but this was when someone knocked on my door and Nimueh vanished while Cameron went to find out who was knocking. She'd opened the door, and Morgana entered my chambers.

Normally I would be pleased if she made such a late night visit to my room, but I figured that this about Sir Owain's death, which was now only hours away. I could do something about the undead creature, however if I did then Merlin wouldn't make Excalibur, and Arthur was going to need that weapon in the future. So Owain had to die, and I had to allow it.

If I did something to save the young knight then Merlin might never make the sword, and that could be really bad for the future.

"You need to do something" Morgana began to say.

I should have expected this.

"No I don't" I told her "And I won't do anything".

She seemed shocked to her that.

"But it's a fight to the death!" she protested.

I nodded.

"The only way to stop Owain from fighting would be lock him up in the dungeons, or to hurt him so badly that he couldn't fight" I explained to Morgana "and even if you did that then someone else would take his place, there's nothing to be done".

She didn't take that well, and stormed out of the room. Leaving me to rub my very suddenly tired eyes.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The next morning, Owain came to Arthur's chambers in order to prepare for the duel. Merlin helped the young knight with his armour.

"You've never fought in mortal combat before," Arthur warned. "It's different. It's not like the training I've been giving you".

"Yeah, I know," Owain replied

He was too confident, and that worried the prince. Owain simply didn't understand how serious this was. In any effort to get his point across Arthur grabbed Owain by the shoulders and turned him around.

"Listen to me!" the prince commanded "The problem is that we've never seen him fight. You have to quickly get the measure of him".

The young knight just didn't understand how much danger he was in.

"But I have the same advantage," Owain pointed out. "He's never seen me fight".

"True," Arthur conceded, albeit reluctantly.

"You've watched me," Owain said.

Arthur nodded.

"And?" asked the knight.

Arthur hesitated only for a moment before clapping Owain on the shoulder.

"And I know no one braver" said the prince "Remember, all it takes to kill a man is one well-aimed blow".

There was a knocking and the door opened Gwen walked in, she was carrying the red ribbon that she'd been given just last night.

"The Lady Morgana asked me to give you this token" she said to Sir Owain "She wishes you to wear it for luck".

Owain took the ribbon.

"You can thank her for me, and tell her I shall wear it with pride. But I won't need luck" he said,

Overconfidence could get a man killed. Gwen knew this as well as Arthur did, and so she worried as much as he did.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I heard drums as Arthur led Owain into the arena. The boy was still alive, but it was as if his funeral had already started, and the sober mood fitted such an occasion. Normally duels between two knights were a chance for entertainment around here, this time things were different.

The black knight was already there, standing in the arena as stiff as a statue. Meanwhile Merlin and Gaius stood by the arena entrance, on hand to treat the wounds of the victor, the loser would be beyond their aid. But perhaps not beyond mine.

"Now remember," I heard Arthur said quietly to Owain, my enhanced senses picking up the talking "Find the flow of the fight, and try to control it".

When they arrived in the center of the arena, Owain faced the black knight.

"The fight shall be to the knights' rules, and to the death" Arthur announced.

After saying that he walked away to join his father in the royal box, were the king and Morgana were sitting. Her ladyship refused to look at me, she was upset that I'd done nothing to aid the young knight.

I turned to see Owain remove his cape and don his helmet. I could see that Morgana's token was tied on the right sleeve of his chainmail. When I was younger I might have been jealous, but now I just didn't care about such small things.

"Let battle commence!" Arthur called out.

The black knight immediately began swinging relentlessly at Owain, who held up his shield to block the attacks. Owain managed a few swings of his own, but for the most part he remained completely on the defensive. Which was not good as he was reacting rather than acting.

Owain continued to parry the black knight's blows, still unable to launch a proper attack of his own. Eventually, the black knight kicked Owain in the chest, and Owain fell down. He just barely managed to dodge the black knight's next strike, and staggered back up to his feet.

"One well-aimed blow!" I heard Arthur yell

Owain was brought to his knees by a powerful move made by the black knight. Owain held up his shield to fend off another blow, and stabbed the black knight in the stomach. Owain quickly withdrew his sword and stood back up, thinking that he had won.

The black knight did not even flinch, and there was some confusion in the crowd, a few of them had seen Owain stab the black knight and now expected the fight to be over. Yet the black knight had already resumed his offensive, and was knocking Owain to the ground once again.

Then the fight did come to an end, the creature that I knew to be a wraith, lifted his sword, and brought it straight down into Owain's heart. The crowd gasped, and I heard a few women scream.

Soon the black knight walked over to the royal box, and threw down his gauntlet again.

"Who will take up my challenge?" it asked.

Arthur immediately rose to his feet, intending to avenge Owain, but Uther grabbed his shoulder and forced him back down. Another knight picked up the gauntlet and pretty much ended his own life.

"I, Sir Pellinor, take up the challenge."

"So be it," the black knight said.

With that the black knight walked out of the arena, clearly unhindered by any injury.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Arthur followed his father into the council chambers.

"Why did you stop me?!" Arthur yelled

He was furious, that was clear to see, and his tone of voice was loud to say the least. Yet those few within earshot made an effort not to hear what was being spoken about.

"We have to give our knights the chance to prove themselves," Uther replied.

He was avoiding looking at his son. The king felt guilty about this, but he'd sacrifice as many knights as required in order to protect his son.

"Have you seen how this stranger fights?" Arthur objected.

"And Sir Pellinor is more than a match for him!" Uther countered.

The prince did not agree.

"He's not recovered from the wounds he suffered at Othanden!" Arthur pointed out.

Uther finally stopped moving and turned to look at Arthur.

"I can't help that" the king said.

"So you send him to his death?" Arthur asked.

"It was his choice to pick up the gauntlet!" Uther reminded his son. "I am not to blame".

With that he walked out through the other end of the council chambers. Arthur watched him go, silently fuming in poorly lit room.

(Line Break)

 **The Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

I smiled as I looked at the body before me. It could be called a corpse, but since it had never been the body of a living person I wasn't sure that corpse was the right word for it. Still it was just a body, and nothing else, there was no life in it.

The technology behind my latest creation came from the Stargate verse. This body was not that unlike the forms of the Kull Warriors, I could have even brought it to some sort of life with the Ancient Healing device, but what I'd have then was sort of undead zombie thing as the tech was too powerful to use on humans, dead or alive.

As to why I had a sort of dead body lying on a slab in my lab, well that was because it happened to be a clone of Sir Owain. It was identical to the now dead man. I just needed the body of the original guy, so that I could recreate the wound.

That part should be taken care of soon as one of probes would soon have found Sir Owain's body and then it would beamed here. Then I could copy the wound and send the clone back to the tombs below the castle while the real Sir Owain was brought back to life in a Goa'uld Sarcophagus.

With a flash of light the mortal remains of Sir Owain appeared before me, and I quickly got to work.

"Cameron I need you replicate an exact copy of what he's wearing" I ordered.

I could have undressed Owain, but there was no need for that, and little time to waste. I had Cortana beam the body into the Sarcophagus as soon as I copied the wound. When Cameron came back into the room I had her dress the dead clone, and sent it back.

Someone with experience with modern medicine would upon performing an autopsy notice something up with body, such as the totally empty digestive tract, and the fact that the teeth were a bit too perfect, which someone like Gaius would notice. However I didn't worry about that as even if Gaius did notice that something was wrong, there was nothing connecting me to either bodies, nothing that the locals could understand.

It would have been simpler to just take Sir Owain and bring him back with the Sarcophagus, before returning him to Camelot. But given Uther's hatred for magic he wouldn't simply accept Sir Owain's return as some miracle, he'd either have Owain burned at the stake or go a witch hunt looking for some who could be behind Owain's return to life.

So last night I'd come up with a long term plan to save Owain, mostly for Morgana's sake, now that his body had been replaced I would bring him back to life in the Sarcophagus, which should take a few hours, and then I'd stick him into stasis until after Uther died.

King Arthur would be more accepting of Sir Owain's amazing return that his father could ever be, and Owain wouldn't remember my involvement in his rebirth, or how he returned to life, so he should be able to get on with this life in a just a few years.

Assuming of course that the Sarcophagus did its work. To find that out I'd just have to wait and see, and if it didn't work then at least I tried. I knew that the rules which governed this reality, concerning life and death were strict, but that was when you messed with the balance using magic. Technology didn't work like magic, so it should be okay.

For now I had something else to busy myself with. Because of the wraith my persona as the black knight wasn't really going to work out in the long run, not that I'd ever meant to it, and now I would need to reinvent myself for the round the world trip.

I couldn't travel as a knight of Camelot as I might need to visit some places here in Albion while spending time with Morgana, and I didn't want any word of my activities to get back to Uther. Given how quickly I could move around he wasn't much of a threat, but the king did command armies and could hire assassins, so there was no sense taking risks. Plus it could complicated our return in the future.

Moving into the armoury, which was full of medieval weapons and armour, that were made from materials vastly superior to the simple steel of this time. I could easily put something new together, now I just needed to pick a colour and go with it. Thankfully I had a lot to choose from I could easily replicate what I needed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 19**

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Pellinor and the black knight were fighting, and by the looks of things they were evenly matched, but that wouldn't last as the wraith wouldn't get tired. Pellinor was mortal, his stamina would run low, and when that happened the Knight of Camelot would die.

I watched Sir Pellinor as he caught the black knight's sword on his shield, and stabbed the black knight in the stomach, much like Sir Owain had yesterday. Sir Owain hadn't won that fight, but he was alive again, and I was keeping him in stasis.

The crowd cheered as Pellinor pulled out the sword, however the black knight stayed on his feet, completely unfazed by what should have been a mortal wound. Pellinor was so shocked by this that he left himself wide open, the black knight took the opening, and stabbed Pellinor in the chest.

For a few moments there was silence as people realised what had just happened. Yet another brave defender of this kingdom had fallen in battle.

"Am I seeing things, or did Pellinor's sword go in?" Morgana asked me.

She seemed to have forgiven me for disappointing her last night, not that I'd done anything wrong, but I wasn't going to complain if it meant getting to spend time with her. Currently I was standing next to her as she sat near the king and the prince.

If Uther was bothered by his secret daughter spending so much time with me, he made no sign of it. Which was understandable as he had bigger concerns on his mind. Not that his approval mattered much to me. Besides given what was happening here he might be glad that one of the best knights if the realm was watching over his ward.

"I saw it too," I agreed.

The black knight lowered his sword and then turned to the royal box. A gauntlet hit the ground in front of us, and the king moved to stop his son, but it was too late. It hadn't been the wraith's gauntlet that had been dropped, it had been the prince's.

"I, Arthur Pendragon, challenge you" he said,

"So be it," the black knight responded.

Uther sank down on his throne, he was clearly distressed by this turn of events.

"Single combat," Arthur declared. "Noon, tomorrow".

The black knight nodded, hefted his sword onto his shoulder, and exited the arena.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Arthur stood patiently in the council chambers. Eventually, the doors burst open and the king walked into the room. Even before he spoke his foul mood was easily detected by all around him.

"How could you be so stupid?" Uther demanded to know, with a mixture of anger and worry in this voice "I'll revoke the challenge".

His son would have none of that.

"No," Arthur said firmly, not looking at his father. "The Knight's Code must be upheld, that's what you taught me".

"This is different," Uther replied.

"Once a challenge has been laid down, it cannot be rescinded," Arthur continued by saying.

"You are Crown Prince!" Uther stated.

Arthur finally turned to face Uther.

"There cannot be one rule for me and one for all the rest" the prince insisted.

The king just stared at his son for a few moments.

"I forbid you to fight" he said firmly.

That should have ended the discussion, but it didn't.

"You want me to prove that I'm worthy of the throne, I cannot do that by being a coward," Arthur said the king.

"No, Arthur, this will be your death," Uther replied.

By now he was pleading rather than demanding.

"I'm sorry you have so little faith in me, Father" said the prince.

With that he turned and walked out of the council chambers.

"Arthur!" Uther called after him.

The Once and Future King did not so much as slow his pace.

(Line Break)

 **The Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

Just as a lifeless clone of Sir Owain had lain on a slab in my lab now a clone of Sir Pellinor did the same. I was just putting some finishing touches to the lifeless body before transporting it the tombs beneath the Citadel. But that was the easy part.

Bringing Sir Pellinor back to life was something that was already in process, and it had worked well enough for Sir Owain, but now I was having second thoughts. Sir Pellinor was no less deserving of life than Sir Owain, however I was concerned that even Arthur wouldn't accept the unexplained return of two of his knights.

Thankfully I didn't have to deal with this issue for quite some time, that was what stasis booths were for. I could keep both men on ice, so to speak, until I figured out what to do with them. For now I would hide them away so that I didn't have to worry about them.

Years from now when Uther was dead, buried and mourned by his son at least, I would send one of the knights home, and the other would go somewhere to live out his life in peace.

While this project was turning out to be a little trickier to finish than I'd hoped, it hadn't exactly taken up much of my time, and this way Arthur would get his magic sword and no one would have to die. Which fitted in my visions and suited my own agenda.

Everything was proceeding as I desired.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Late into the night, Merlin slipped out of the castle. He cautiously moved about keeping to the shadows, and eventually he found the black knight standing in the center of the training field, facing the palace. The knight was completely motionless, the only thing the moved was the banner he carried, which fluttered in the breeze. Other than that he may as well have been a statue.

Merlin held a hand out to the knight, and began to channel his great power.

"Cume her fyrbryne," Merlin chanted.

A line of fire snaked away from him and encircled the knight. The flames rose higher and higher, eventually towering above the knight's head, and then Wraith couldn't even be seen as its form was completely hidden behind the flames.

Merlin grinned, thinking himself victorious. Then the flames began to die down, and his smile faded. The knight had not moved, nor did he appear the least bit singed. After another few moments, the flames died out completely to no effect.

Suddenly, the knight turned his head to look at the young warlock. Merlin stumbled back a few steps before turning around and running to the castle out of fear.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Merlin burst into Arthur's chambers and found the prince practicing with his sword. Arthur looked up, lowered his sword, and sighed.

"Merlin, you do recall that there's such a thing as knocking?" he asked.

Merlin ignored him.

"You have to pull out" he insisted.

Arthur groaned.

"Not you too" he complained.

No one seemed to have any faith in him.

"He'll kill you, Arthur!" Merlin shouted.

"Why does everybody think that?" Arthur asked.

He was clearly exasperated.

"Because they're right!" Merlin said "That's not an ordinary knight, he's a wraith!"

"So what?" Arthur said, now inspecting his sword. "I'm not a coward"

Merlin clenched his fists in frustration.

"I know that" said the young warlock "I've stood at your side and watched you overcome every fear you've ever faced".

"That's what's required of me," Arthur commented

He almost sounded casual about that.

"But you are more than that," Merlin said "You're a prince, a future king! You've proved your courage, now you must prove your wisdom".

"I'm not backing down," Arthur insisted.

He resumed his practice, not even looking at Merlin.

"Arthur, please, listen to me! He's not human, not any more" Merlin yelled "That's the spirit of your uncle Tristan, come back to kill your Father and anyone who stands in his way! No mortal weapon can stop him! You saw as well as I, Sir Pellinor struck a fatal blow, but the black knight didn't fall".

Merlin walked to the window, which had a clear view of the black knight standing in the training field.

"Look at him! He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep! He just stands there in complete silence! Doesn't that tell you something?" Merlin asked.

"No man is unbeatable," Arthur declared

He was trying to sound much more confident than he actually was.

"But he's not a man!" Merlin objected. "If you fight him, you will die!".

"I'm not listening to this" the prince said.

Merlin moved away from the window and walked up behind his employer.

"I'm trying to warn you, Arthur!" said the young warlock.

Arthur whirled around, sword still in hand, and almost pressed the blade into Merlin's flesh.

"And I'm trying to warn you, Merlin!" shouted the prince.

The fact that Arthur could easily stab his manservant wouldn't deter the young man from speaking, but his words were falling on deaf ears so Merlin knew he needed to take action.

(Line Break)

 **Albion. Camelot.**

While Nimueh was in town, she wasn't foolish to actually walk through the castle. Instead she was sitting in her hideout and sending out her astral form in order to speak to people. In this form she could move about and be seen only by those she wished to see her, she couldn't affect the world much when like this, but she didn't need to for what she had planned.

So far been happy to let Tristan tear through the knights, but she could not allow him to kill Arthur. And Tristan would not remember that Arthur was the nephew he had feared to leave in Uther's care after his beloved sister's death. It was time to give Uther a nudge so that he would save his son and face his brother-in-law in combat.

Nimueh found the king drinking alone in the council chambers. With a silent spell, she blew out the candles. Uther whirled around and saw her, and she was eerily lit by the moonlight spilling in from the windows.

"I should have known," Uther said wearily.

Nimueh smirked, and set her plan into motion. She knew the king well enough from her days in court to predict how he would react.

"It is more than I'd hoped for, Uther. Soon Arthur will be slain. You will have sent him to his death."

Uther put down his goblet.

"Haven't you tired of revenge?" he asked,

Nimueh stiffened upon hearing this. He had the gall to ask her that?

"Haven't you?" she retorted, sounding much calmer than she actually felt. "You began this war when you threw me from the court and slaughtered all of my kind!"

"You brought it on yourselves, you practiced evil," Uther argued.

Even after all these years, Nimueh felt a stab of pain go through her heart at that statement. His anger over his wife's death was something he had a right to feel, but he'd lashed out with that anger, and had caused so much harm to the people she cared about.

Killing Uther wasn't enough for Nimueh, she wanted the man before to suffer, to see everything he had built turned to rubble all around him,

"I was your friend, Uther" the High Priestess said "you welcomed me here!"

"You betrayed that friendship," Uther insisted.

She had done no such thing.

"I did as you asked!" Nimueh stated in her defence. "I used the magic you so despise to give your barren wife the son you craved!".

"Don't…ever speak of her in that way," Uther said with a soft snarl "She was my heart, my soul, and you took her from me!".

Which had not been part of the plan.

"Ygraine died giving birth to your heir!" the magic user shouted back "It was not my choice. That is the law of magic. To create a life, there had to be a death, the balance of the world had to be repaid!"

Nimueh had told Uther all of this when he first made the request; it was not her fault that he chose not to listen.

"You knew it would kill her!" Uther accused.

Nimueh shook her head.

"No, you're wrong" the sorceress firmly stated "If I had foreseen her death, and the terrible retribution you would seek. I would never have granted your wish".

Uther bowed his head.

"I wish you hadn't" he said,

Nimueh was incredulously at first, but she didn't think the king really felt that way, and if he did well the prince might just die, but she doubted that would happen, Arthur was the Once and Future King, the wraith would be defeated somehow.

"Well, your wish will come true tomorrow" she said.

Uther lifted his head again.

"I will not let you take Arthur" Uther said.

Nimueh was secretly pleased, she'd been able to goad him into doing something reckless.

"I have watched so many people I love die at your hands, Uther Pendragon. Now it is your turn," Nimueh declared coldly.

Tristan had been the one knight in all of Camelot to speak in her defense, not blaming her for his sister's death, and Uther had struck him down. Then Uther had gone on his purge, and his attacks had left many dead on both sides of the conflict. He deserved a far worse fate than Nimueh could ever devise for him.

Uther bowed his head again. When he finally looked up, Nimueh was gone. Uther realized that if he wanted to save Arthur, without revealing the secret he had so carefully buried, there was only one course of action left. Uther headed to Gaius's chambers. He would need help if he was to take Arthur's place in the duel.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Late at night Merlin browsed in the library. It wasn't exactly the best source of information when it came to magic, but Merlin was running out of ideas. He pulled a book from the shelf, and accidentally knocked another to the ground. Merlin crouched to pick it up, and heard a voice behind him.

"How did you get in here?" the record keep asked suspiciously.

Merlin stood up, and made up some lame excuse, which wasn't believed, but Geoffrey didn't see any point in arguing about this. Recent goings on had left him an dour mood.

"What brings you to the library at this late hour?" he asked.

"Arthur is in grave peril," Merlin replied "Gaius believes the black knight is a wraith. Do you know of any books that will tell me how to kill something that is already dead?".

In fact he did.

"Well, I've read of such things in the ancient chronicles," Geoffrey said, giving it some thought. "Several fables speak of ancient swords that could destroy anything, alive or dead".

The young warlock now had hope.

"Could you show me one of these fables?" Merlin prompted.

Geoffrey frowned in concentration for a few moments, then fetched a book and set it on his desk. He flipped through it as Merlin looked over his shoulder.

"This is the Chronicle of Beltane," Geoffrey informed Merlin.

He stopped on a page that had a gilded illustration on it, which had clearly been the work of many hours by a skilled artist.

"Now then... ah, here we are. 'Sir Marhaus looked upon the great sword, begotten in the dragon's breath, and found it passing good'"

Merlin's eyes widened.

"Thank you!" shouted manservant as he ran out of the library.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion**

Merlin knocked on the door of Gwen's house. She looked surprised when she opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

She was clearly surprised to see the young man here.

"I've come to ask for a sword, the strongest sword your father's ever made," Merlin explained.

He held up a small purse filled with coins. Arthur wasn't a great boss, but he never sort changed Merlin when it came to pay.

"I'll pay whatever price you demand, but I need it now" the warlock insisted.

Understanding the urgency Gwen let her visitor into her house. After a few moments, she presented a cloth-wrapped object. She unwrapped it to reveal a particularly well-made sword.

"My father's been saving this. He's always said it was the best sword he ever made" Gwen told the manservant.

Merlin smiled and handed her the purse.

"Trust me, you've just saved Arthur's life" he then said.

Merlin wrapped the sword again before returning to the castle.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

When Merlin arrived in the dragon's cave, he found the dragon perched on his usual outcropping. The dragon lifted his head, and gave the young man a look that didn't really say anything.

"Do you know why I'm here?" Merlin asked.

"It may surprise you, Merlin, but my knowledge of your life is not universal," the dragon remarked.

Although it often seemed otherwise.

"It's to do with Arthur" Merlin explained "His life's in danger. He will die, unless I can make a weapon that will kill the dead".

Merlin knelt and unwrapped the sword.

"What does that have to do with me?" asked the giant fire breathing reptile.

Merlin floated the sword in front of the dragon.

"Will you burnish it, to save Arthur?" he requested.

The dragon didn't move.

"The dead do not return without reason," the massive magical creature said "Who has he come for?"

"Uther" Merlin admitted reluctantly.

Given the Great Dragon's loathing for the king the young warlock had been hoping that he wouldn't have to share that little bit of information.

"Then let him take his vengeance, and the wraith will die without my aid," the dragon declared.

Merlin softly sigh.

"But it's Arthur who's going to fight the wraith! You have to save him!" the young man insisted.

"That is your destiny, young warlock, not mine," the dragon reminded.

The prince's manservet wasn't going to give up so easily.

"If Arthur fights the wraith and dies, what happens to my destiny?" Merlin asked "You said he's the Once and Future King, not me! I can't unite Albion!"

The powerful magical beast gave the matter some thought. He was considering the possible ramifications of what he was about to do.

"A weapon forged with my assistance will have great power," the powerful creature warned.

The sword would have some of the dragon's power within it.

"I know," Merlin acknowledged.

"You do not know," the dragon said sternly. "You can only guess. You have not seen what I have seen. If you had, perhaps you would not ask this of me".

Now the warlock was feeling concerned.

"What do you mean?" Merlin queried.

"In the wrong hands, this sword could do great evil. It must be wielded by Arthur, and him alone".

Merlin nodded.

"I understand"

"You must do more than understand," the dragon pressed. "You must promise."

Merlin nodded again.

"I promise" he said,

The dragon sucked in a deep breath as Merlin backed away and covered his eyes. Then the dragon blew a steady stream of fire onto the sword. When he had finished, each side of the blade sported a runed gold inlay that had not been there before.

"Heed my words. This sword was forged for Arthur, and him alone" said the dragon.

Little did either of them know that events would led to the wrong person weidling this weapon.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The crowd broke out into subdued muttering when Uther entered the arena instead of Arthur. I was not surprised. All I thought about was that the dragon was not going to be happy when he found out about this, and how that wonderful looking sword was going to end up in the bottom of a lake. If hadn't already obtained such a blade I might have been tempted to take it for myself.

I watched as Uther walked up to the black knight, and somehow he was able to hide the fear he must have been feeling.

"You can have what you came for," the king announced. "The father, not the son".

The black knight turned his head to look at Uther as a soldier removed Uther's cape before quickly making his way out of the arena. I didn't blame the man for not wanting to stick around.

Then Uther put on his helmet, and what followed was a tense few moments when nothing at all happened. Soon after that Uther and the black knight were battling ferociously. Somewhere amid the furious exchange of blows, Uther managed to hit the knight in the head with his shield, which made the black knight's helmet flew off.

The crowd gasped in horror at the sight of the knight's bare head, it was blackened and eyeless, and the skin was stretched so thin that all could clearly see the outline of the skull. It was clear to all that this was not a living thing, it was something unnatural. And as if to the support that the wraith let out an inhuman snarl before continuing the attack.

Before long Uther was forced to the ground, and he lost his grip on the sword. The wraith loomed over him, repeatedly battering at the king's shield. Then it landed a blow so hard that its sword became stuck in the rim of the shield. After a few moments of tugging, the wraith pulled the shield off of Uther's arm, and the shield was still attached to the sword.

The wraith lifted its sword and tried once more to remove the shield, but in doing so it left itself wide open. Uther grabbed the sword, which I knew to be Excabulir, and plunged it into the wraith's chest. The wound immediately began smoking.

As Uther pulled out the magical sword, he backed away so quickly that he tripped and fell over. Meanwhile the wraith dropped its own sword as the wound caught fire. The flames spread until the wraith exploded, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

The rest of the crowd was shocked into silence. After a few moments, Uther rose to his feet and removed his helmet. The crowd began to cheer and applaud.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"I thought you said a wraith couldn't be killed," Uther said.

The court physician was inspecting the king's wounds. He wasn't badly hurt, which was amazing considering what he'd just been through.

"Yes, it was remarkable," Gaius agreed "Is that a new sword, Sire?".

"It's the best I've ever fought with," Uther replied

After picking it up the older of the two men inspected the blade.

"I'm intrigued by these markings," Uther said.

Gaius examined the runes.

"On one side, it says 'take me up', and on the other it says 'cast me away'" said the healer

At that moment, the doors opened and Arthur walked in. He did not look happy. The physician decided to beat a hasty retreat.

"You had Gaius drug me!" he yelled. "I was meant to fight him! The Knight's Code…"

"Be damned," Uther interrupted.

Arthur froze, and looked at his father in shock.

"I believed you would die" said the king "that was a risk I could not take. You are too precious to me! You mean more to me than anything I know, more than this entire kingdom and certainly more than my own life!"

Arthur opened and closed his mouth a few times before replying.

"I've always thought that…I was a big disappointment to you" the prince struggled to say

"Well that is my fault, and not yours," Uther said quietly. "You are my heir, and my son. I wouldn't have it any other way".

Arthur stood in silence for a few moments, unsure what to say. After a while he settled for changing the subject.

"I heard you fought pretty well" he told his father.

"Thanks," Uther said with a smile.

"You should join us for training some time," Arthur suggested. "Sort out your footwork."

"I'll show you footwork," Uther threatened in a playful tone.

He rose to his feet and kicked at his son. Arthur dodged, and made his way out of the room.


	20. Chapter 20

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 20**

 **Helva. Albion.**

Cylferth was an old warlock who ran a small business here in the city of Helva, this was one of the few places in Albion were magic was practised freely, yet it didn't seem to be prospering because of it. Either the magic users here lacked imagination when it came to figuring out what to do with their powers, or they were so weak in terms of magic there wasn't much they could do with it.

For me all that really mattered was that Helva became the place to visit if I wanted to buy anything magical, and that was my purpose here today. I'd made a list, I'd checked it twice, and now I was coming to town for some shopping.

While I'd been worried about the wraith ruining my black knight persona I'd decided to reuse it anyway for this visit as I had worked hard on that outfit, and it would be shame if it got so little use. Beside I hadn't been able to decide on a newly knightly persona just yet. Although I was leaning towards becoming the silver knight, I could even wear contact lenses that would alter my eye colour to silver.

I found Cylferth as one might expect, in his place of business, which was nothing to write home about and therefore more proof that selling magical items wasn't a way to get rich in these parts. Which made me glad I didn't need to make money.

Once I had the man's attention I inquired about Blood Crystals which were magical artefacts that allowed wearers to take on the physical appearance of anyone whose blood the crystal touches. Which was more useful than it might sound.

Thanks to my Mystical Sensitivity Perk I could sense that the crystals were magical and not just lumps of pretty looking rocks. I didn't feel the need to test them as it would be a simple matter for me to return and punish the old warlock if he was playing me for a fool.

I was sure that he other items for sale that may be of use to me, however I was working off a list and I didn't want to mess about with things I knew nothing about while I was still so new to magic. The last thing I needed to do was to accidently banish myself into another reality or get thrown through time.

"Here" I said.

I tossed a small bag of gemstones on the counter. They were easily replicated as were gold coins so I could afford to throw around small fortunes for no reason. Not the stones were guaranteed to be a fortune as I had no idea what they were worth.

"Most generous milord" said the warlock.

Rather than say anything I just turned around and left. Something about that old man was creeping me out.

(Line Break)

 **Moonbase. Sol System.**

With a flash of light and the movement of metal rings I appeared within the newly built moonbase. Truth be told it wasn't much of a base, it was more of a large bunker which had been dug out by construction bots. I had great plans for the bots in the future so it was good to know that they could perform the tasks that I required of them, as such a big part of why I'd sent them up her was just to see if they could build what I wanted.

The base was only accessible via transportation rings, which were also called ring transporters, transport rings or simply rings. They were a form of transportation used by a number of species in the Stargate verse, but they were originally designed and built by the Ancients long before the invention of beam transporters by the Asgard.

Transportation rings were similar in function to Stargates, in the sense they were made from naquadah and were for transporting people, but they moved matter across much shorter distances and didn't do so via wormholes. My advanced version of this technology had a greater range than the rings used by the Goa'uld, as such I was able to travel from my fortress in Albion to this moonbase without concern.

When activated, a number of rings would rise from the floor or drop from the ceiling, surrounding the object or persons within the rings. The matter stream was then transmitted to a similar set of rings elsewhere. The matter at the destination is swapped with the matter at the departure point in order to prevent accidents. Which was good as without that feature the matter that made up both objects and living tissue could end up fusing together in a horrible way.

This feature also made possible a method of covert escape as if a person was within a set rings as they come down, they would be transported _out_ while an enemy happens to be transporting _in_. Meaning that you could end up aiding your enemy's escape while sending in people to capture them.

The rings, unlike Stargates, made no distinction between whole objects and only part of the object so matter is transported regardless of whether or not the entire object is within the confines of the rings. An example of this was seen in the original movie when one of Ra's guards was killed when he was pinned beneath an active set of rings, and parts of his body were not within the rings.

When the rings were used transported matter passed between two sets of rings in a matter stream that could be detected by a ship's sensors. As such it was possible to intercept a matter stream by interposing a set of rings (like those in a Goa'uld shuttlecraft) between the sending rings and the planned receiving rings.

However, such an intercept requires that the _entire_ matter stream be captured by the intercepting rings otherwise, the transported people will not be able to fully reintegrate and would die. As such only a highly skilled pilot would attempt such a thing. Not that this was a concern as only I had that technology and none of my ships could be flown in this reality.

"That spot outside the window is the Apollo landing site" Cortana informed me "But the base will be cloaked when Neil Armstrong walks here".

Looking out of the window, which was made of a transparent metal rather than glass, I saw the barren surface of the moon. The view wasn't that great really. Still I was amused by the fact that I was on the moon many centuries before anyone else. But that wasn't why I'd had this place built. There were dangerous things in this universe that I didn't want in my fortress, but could be safely stored here.

I highly doubted that any sorcerer or sorceress on Earth, no matter how powerful would be able to track me if I was up on the moon. That was a thought which made me smile.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

The wooden blade of the training sword met the quarterstaff which was being held by Merlin with a satisfying _thunk_ noise. I'd put some strength behind that blow yet the young warlock had held his ground, and he even went on counter attacked, in an attempt to knock the wooden sword out of my hand, as I'd taught him to.

His move didn't work, as I'd been prepared for it, but it was clear to me that the manservant was not longer simply reacting to my attacks, he was becoming confident enough to go on the offensive during our infrequent training session.

Merlin was no warrior, he was a gentle soul and with his magical powers he didn't need a staff in order to kill people, but if he was going to go into danger with the prince then he would need to be able to defend himself. In the show he got on alright, but this wasn't a TV show. All it would take to kill Merlin was one decent blow as he didn't even wear any armour.

"You're doing good" I said to the young man "Remember don't just protect yourself, try to disarm me".

Suddenly the magic user went on the offensive. He didn't have the raw strength to batter down my defences. So he tried to get past them by striking my body in unexpected ways. He mostly going for my arms, knowing as well as I did that if I dropped my sword I'd be wide open for a finishing move.

"Come on Merlin!" I heard someone yell.

I paid no attention to the person who was shouting out encouragement for the magic user. I was too focused on blocking the blows of the young man who still was trying to hit me with his staff. The warlock didn't have much strength, as he was a skinny bloke, but he had a lot of energy to call upon. He must do to put up with his employer's demands.

Merlin was now attacking me at an even faster pace, he was quick on his feet, and unlike me he wasn't wearing a load of chainmail. Not that this slowed me down much, but the young warlock seemed to have realised that sheer speed was his only advantage.

However since I'd taught him all his moves it was easy enough for me to predict how he would attack, and therefore it was also easy for me to figure out a defence. I could have spent the entire training session letting him try to disarm me without breaking a sweat. Not that sweating was much of a concern given how cold it was.

Since I had to hide just how good I really was at fighting, I had to hold back, and I decided to let Merlin strike my arm, so that my sword dropped to the ground. He didn't go for a finishing blow, he just stood there smirking as if he'd accomplished something great.

"Okay that's enough you two" Arthur called out "Time for some real training".

In my view the prince really needed to get a hobby, or develop a proper interest in girls, because he spent far too much time training.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I looked out of the window at the snow which was gently falling to the ground all across the town, perhaps across the whole kingdom. It had been snowing on and off for days now. Winter was here. As the Starks had warned.

"Master, you'll catch a cold" Cameron said.

With that she closed the shutters, blocking my view of the snow covered town. Which was a shame as it had been a pleasant sight. Like something you might see on a Christmas card

"I'm genetically engineered for hostile environments" I reminded the Terminator "A little cold weather isn't going to do me any harm".

Alliance soldiers were gene modded so as to be able to fight on alien planets, as such I could withstand the cold better than unmodified humans, but such modifications didn't make me immune to the elements.

"You can still get sick" my Terminator said "You should stay near the fire. I'll get you some cider".

At times I couldn't tell if Cameron was just following her programming or if she really enjoyed getting to take care of me. For most of the time I'd know her there was normally more of my harem around, but now they were all in stasis so she had me all to herself.

Not that we'd ever spent much time apart since she'd first been given to me, it was just that until this Jump I'd been able to spend lots of time with her alone. Granted we'd hanged a lot when we'd been on Voyager, however back then Cameron had been lacking in personality to put it nicely. Not that this had prevented me from having some fun with her.

Moving away from the window I went and sat down by the fire, while my bodyguard/companion poured me a drink. I wasn't sure how I felt about hot alcoholic drinks, something about it seemed wrong, but it was chilly and the cider tasted good.

"I never knew how dull winter could be in a medieval setting" I said to Cameron as she stood next to me "I should have predicted it".

To be fair I didn't exactly have a lot of experience when it came to living in a world that lacked the advanced technology I was used to. Even during my first life, which had been rather primitive when compared to what I'd known later, I'd had the ability to binge watch television shows, play on my games consoles, and my view my extensive DVD collection.

Once I'd started Jump Chain a lot of my time had been spent actually doing stuff, but I'd still been able to enjoy some of luxuries of those times. 2D visual entertainment was available in a number of universes, and there was always plenty for me to read.

Alas since this world hadn't even invented the printing press yet it lacked escapist fiction for me to read. Although I could just go into the Cosmic Warehouse and grab a data padd if I really wanted something to read. Of course I hadn't come to this world for the books.

I'd come here to relax, as much as it was possible to chill out while doing Jump Chain. With that in mind I put my feet up on the table, drank my hot cider, and watched the fire as the flames danced. While doing that I spent some time musing about ways to amuse myself. There had to be some fun I could have around here.

My thoughts were on going to see if the tavern was open despite the weather when there was knock at my door. Cameron went to open it and to my surprise Sir Leon entered my chambers.

While I knew Sir Leon somewhat as an adult I knew very little about about Leon's early life, only that Gwen's mother was once a maid in his family's household and that he was from a family of noble blood, and at some point had joined the Knights of Camelot.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

The man seemed nervous so I poured some cider, which he drank plenty of before taking a seat. I'd never seen Leon act this way, but we'd never spent much time together.

"I've come to ask your permission to court the Lady Maeve" he said.

Well this was unexpected. Leon was a very high ranking knight and he came from a respected noble family.

"Really?" I found myself asked "My cousin".

I couldn't imagine what he saw in her, perhaps it was good that I didn't.

"Yes" Leon confirmed "My father wants me to marry, he expects grandchildren before he dies, and I've been able to avoid fulfilling his wish because of my duties, and because of the lack of a suitable woman to marry here in court. But your cousin told me how your father wishes her to be married and soon. Maeve is at least someone I can talk to, and she's not bad company. We can please our families by marrying".

I found her annoying, however to each their own, and while my 21st century upbringing told me that people should marry for love I understand the sound reasoning behind Leon's thinking. He needed a suitable wife, and Maeve needed someone who support her, a knight of Camelot could do that nicely.

"You have my blessing" I told Sir Leon.

He smiled raised his goblet, and we made a toast. Finally someone could take her off my hands.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

While I'd always known the Christmas had started off as a pagan festival I'd not really understood just how little this holiday had changed over the centuries.

Sure there was no mention of Jesus, so either his birthday hadn't been moved to that date by the early Church just yet, or the change in tradition hadn't spread this far yet. Also Santa Claus didn't exist at this point, which was no surprise as Saint Nick was a Christian figure and Paganism was still going strong here despite how many people had converted to the new faith. Yet the festival was still very recognisable to me.

Evergreen trees had cut down and decorated, although not too many thankfully as that could have caused some problems. Mistletoe had been gathered and hung about. Yule logs were being burnt, and gifts would soon be exchanged.

Dinner on the night of Midwinter Eve, which had been last night, had been hearty, but otherwise modest, consisting of different kinds of bread and salted fish, the latter had been served grilled, roasted, boiled, with sauced or just plain, with wine and ale. Also there had been a dessert, made from almonds.

However tonight was the feast of Midwinter's Day, and the tables in the castle dining hall literally groaned beneath the weight of vast quantities of food. At times like this I was so glad that I had chosen the metavore perk as otherwise I'd put on some serious weight from this feast.

Currently a huge boar, which could have been mistaken for a bear given its sheer size, was being carried into the hall by festively-garbed servants and had been preceded by musicians. I'd never seen so much fuss made over a dish before, but the boar was worth it.

Other dishes, including entire swans (something I noticed that Morgana grimaced upon seeing), capons, geese and ducks, as well as haunch of venison, were borne into the hall in similar fashion requiring many of the servants to put some real effort into the carrying of dishes. Also there were many pork filled sausages. And that was just the main course.

All of this was washed down with a frightening amount of spiced wine, and as time passed the meal concluded with plum puddings, apples and pears, gingerbread confections, cheeses, and an enormous mincemeat pie. As well a few dishes I didn't even recognize.

While we ate we were entertained by singers who were accompanied by lutes and pipes, whose music drowned out the sounds of clattering spoons and poorly disguised belches. There were jugglers too, and dancers who were dressed in very colourful fabrics. There were even some actors, do some silly show that involved people getting kicked in the bum and hit with stuff. It was a little low brow for my tastes, but it went down well with the crowd as a whole.

Since I'd been moved up to the head table I noted that the crown prince refilled his plate several times and even the Lady Morgana, who often merely picked at her food, had more than one helping of mincemeat pie. I hadn't even know that mince pies existed at this point in time.

During the feasting the serving girl Guinevere stood behind her mistress, anticipating her needs, just as Merlin stood behind Prince Arthur's chair. Cameron was behind mine, but she was chatting away with some serving girl, doing a good job of blending in, as she was suppose to.

From here I could see my cousin and Sir Leon, who'd gotten married very quickly, to appease their elders no doubt, and they seemed to be getting on well enough so I considered my involvement in Maeve's life to be an end. Giving myself a proper background in this world may have been necessary, but it had also been a pain in my ass.

"Sir Gothic" Morgana said as she leaned over to speak to me "Didn't you promise us some entertainment".

Indeed I had, and thanks to my Tapestry of Life Perk I'd chosen for the Voyager Jump I had list of talent and interests that seemed to expand when convenient. Most of these talents had no practical use, and while I'd not kept track of them I was sure that some had changed for no reason whatsoever, as such I ignored them, but this time things were different. I wanted to show off a little.

Plus I'd worked on this act for a while, and I had an idea for working in an actual magic spell between all the slight of hand stuff. To perform actual magic in front of the whole court and have the king cheer for it would be greatly amusing to me.

With that I got up, moved around the table and began to perform my act.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

While that whole thing with the unicorn and the famine hadn't happened yet, winter was progressing and I felt that soon it would be time for Morgana and I to leave this place. I didn't have precognitive abilities so I could only assume that my trip to the Crystal Cave had somehow imparted this information to me in some indirect way. There still so much that I didn't understand about magic that I couldn't be sure.

I'd given the recruitment of the Seer a great deal of thought and I had decided that things were going well enough that I would tell her that I was a magic user and get her to accept the truth about herself. The fact that her nightmares had stopped after I'd sent her a special stone must have clued her ladyship that I was not a magic hater.

After taking a deep breathe I knocked on the door to Morgana's bedroom. I'd already scanned around so I knew that the King's Ward was alone. Her maid must have gone home for the night.

"Good evening, my lady" I said once she had opened the door.

Without meaning to I checked out her outfit, which was nightgown that like her dresses pushed up her bosom. Which couldn't be that comfortable to sleep in I imagined, but for some reason pretty much every young woman who lived in and armour the Citadel showed off their bosoms.

"Such a late hour to be visiting a woman who is alone, should I be worried?" Morgana teased

While I did like to see her smile, it was a serious matter that I had come to discuss with her. Plus I didn't want anyone to walk down the hallway and see me flirting with the king's ward. That could cause problems.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

She didn't even take a moment to think about it. Hopefully she didn't make a habit of letting men into her room in the middle of the night.

"You may" she said.

She stepped aside to let him in. Then she closed the door.

"There is something I want to tell you," I told her.

I was nervous about this. A lot was at stake, but it felt right.

"What is it?" Morgana asked.

Clearly she was intrigued.

"I know the truth about you" I said.

Morgana stared at me, and I could see worry in her eyes. Which meant that she already suspected that she had magical powers, perhaps she had for many years.

"I know you can do magic and that you are a Seer," I said.

Now that I'd spoke those words I wouldn't be able to take them back.

"That's outlandish. Do you expect me to…"

Knowing that denial wouldn't help her I didn't let her finish.

"I won't tell anyone," I assured her.

"Why would you think I have magic?" Morgana asked.

By now she'd turned away with her back facing me.

"Because I too have magic," I admitted.

Morgana turned to face him.

"What?" was all she was able to say.

Since seeing was believing I showed her exactly what I meant.

 _Hoppaþ nu swilce swá lieg fleogan_

The flames of the candles around us floated off their wicks and moved around before gently gently returning to their proper place. That had not been one of the many fire spells I'd learned not from my teacher, but from one of the books I'd picked up.

"You must not tell no one about this" I urged.

Morgana had been captivated by the sight, but she recovered quickly enough once the spell had ended.

"You mean Uther." Morgana said with a roll of her eyes. "He would be the last person I would ever say anything too. He hears the word magic and loses what little compassion and sense he has".

She was silent for a little while.

"I can see the future at times" she admitted "In my dreams".

This was not news to me.

"I know" I told her "That's why I sent you that stone, to protect you from your nightmares. I've seen some of the future as well".

That news excited her. No doubt she'd suspected that the adder stone had been given to her by me to protect her from the nightmares.

"I went to a special place" I told her ladyship "and had visions about the future".

When she was ready I would take her to that cave.

"Then what did you see? Did you see anything about my fate?" Morgana asked.

I didn't want to tell her the whole truth as her future was no a nice one.

"The future is always in motion" I told her "But I have seen us together".

It wasn't wise to overwhelm her so I would tell her more later on.

"Just remember that while you have to hide your magic that your powers aren't something evil" I assured her ladyship "I can help you learn more about magic, but we have to be careful".

Despite the fact that we ended up kissing, before long I left Morgana's room, knowing that she would need time to think over what we had just spoken about. Plus I had an errand to run this very night.

(Line Break)

 **Cave. Albion.**

I'd dressed as a traveller, and had entered Cedric's kingdom via the use of beaming tech, this part of Albion was a hostile neighbour of the kingdom of Camelot on very important business. I didn't make a habit of entering dangerous lands and looking about in caves as that was a good way to get bitten by something nasty.

The man I sought here was called Balinor, he was a warlock and a dragonlord, thought to be the last of his kind, however I knew this wasn't true as he had fathered a son, Merlin, who had inherited his gift of magic. Balinor was forced to go into hiding during Uther Pendragon's Great Purge, which saw the end of many creatures of magic and human spellcasters

After Gaius helped him escape, Balinor stayed for a time at the village of Ealdor where he met Hunith (Merlin's mother) with whom he fell in love. When Uther discovered his whereabouts, Balinor was forced to flee again, leaving Hunith behind, not knowing that she was carrying his child.

The snow was still falling in this part of the country, but that hadn't stopped my probes from locating Balinor. After all this island had a limited amount of caves, and few of them could block life sign scans.

Balinor had lived as a hermit for nineteen years, becoming very distant from mankind, so much so that I wasn't at all surprised when he tried to throw me out of his cave. Of course his efforts were for naught and when I displayed my magical powers he calmed down somewhat.

"I have something to show you" I told the dragonlord.

Using my omni-tool I displayed a hologram of the dragon's egg I'd recently acquired. My probes had located the tower it had been stored in and the traps protecting the egg had meant nothing to me as I'd just beamed the priceless object out of the tower.

"I don't understand" said the dragonlord "Why are you showing me this illusion".

That he thought the image was an illusion created by magic did not surprise me. He wouldn't be capable of seeing it as anything else.

"The image is of a very real dragon's egg" I assured the man "But I don't have the power to awaken the dragon within, and even if I did have that kind of power I wouldn't be able to raise the creature".

Balinor was a cautious man, and I could tell that internally he was struggling with his desire to see this dragon born into the world, and his concerns over me, a stranger he did not understand.

"How do I know your intentions are honest?" I was asked.

A fair question.

"If I meant the dragon any harm I could have smashed the egg" I pointed out.

Balinor stroked his beard.

"I won't use the dragon to harm people for you" he stated.

That wasn't a concern as I didn't need a dragon as a weapon. I could destroy this whole planet if I wished simply by overloading one of the ZPMs I had in storage. Or if I wanted to take out a city I could use a naquadah enhanced nuclear weapon. Of course Balinor had no way of knowing that, and in a setting such as this a dragon was a pretty much a WMD with wings.

"Once you see my fortress you'll understand" I promised.

The man considered my words.

"What do you get out of this?" Balinor asked me.

A good question.

"I have magic" I admitted "But I don't understand it very well. I need a teacher, someone who can give me not only knowledge of magic, but also has wisdom to pass on".

While I had plans to travel the world to learn from other users of magic, given my transporters I could do that and also live in the fortress, as such it would serve me well if I had a magical teacher at the fortress. Plus while there he could raise the white dragon in safety. In time we could discuss freeing of the Great Dragon, but that would take some planning and some trust between us.

"I'll give you some time to think things over" I said to the dragon lord "I'll return this time tomorrow".

With that I left the cave and when I was sure that no one was looking I had Cortana beam me away.


	21. Chapter 21

**Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 21**

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

Now that I had Balinor staying in my fortress I needed to upgrade my internal security somewhat so that the dragonlord didn't mess with the wrong thing and hurt himself, or damage one of my projects. Which required me to ensure that certain parts of this place were near as to impossible to enter as I could manage.

This didn't take long as Cortana could oversee the defences of this place no matter where on this planet I was thanks to the new moon base and extended satellite network. So really I had to do was install some locks, and make sure that the bots stayed out of man's way.

He'd already brought the new dragon into the world, not wanting to wait incase the already centuries old egg was somehow damaged. I would have preferred to wait until we had a chamber ready for the dragon, but I trusted that the dragonlord knew what he was doing.

Besides the man had spent years living in a cave so the few rooms he had access to within the fortress must seem like a palace when compared, and I'd already shown him the replicators so he knew how to get anything he needed. I'd made sure that the replicator couldn't supply weapons, but if Balinor wanted to harm me he'd use magic not a knife.

Not that I thought he would try to hurt me as my fortress was in the middle of a frozen wasteland, as such he had nowhere to go, and he had a very young dragon to care for. Still I felt it wise to give the man some space and time before asking him to teach me anything.

"Okay show me his DNA" I said to Cortana.

Currently I was in my lab, which was behind closed doors, so that I could examine the DNA sample that I'd been able to acquire form Balinor's cave once he had vacacted the area. On the screen it was displayed next to Merlin's DNA and very quickly it became clear that they were related.

"There's nothing in this DNA to explain how dragonlord powers can be inherited" the AI soon told me.

My own inspection of the DNA confirmed this.

"He has the Mystical Sensitivity Gene" I noted.

Which made sense as it seemed to be a gene that a person inherited from a parent. Merlin had to have gotten it from somewhere as his mother was a normal human as far as I knew. I should at some point check out her DNA just to be certain.

"Shame that I can't just splice a dragonlord gene into myself" I went to say "But no matter".

Given that the power was inherited, passed down from father to son, it would seem to be genetic, but the son would only gain the power when the father died, so clearly there was more to being a dragonlord that just having the right father. There was some sort of mystical process involved, perhaps the work of a higher power.

I got a feeling that how the powers of a dragonlord worked would be one of those things that I would never figure out, and that was okay with me as there were plenty of other mysteries for me to go and figure out. Besides dragonlord powers wouldn't be that useful as there were only two dragons left in this world, as far as I knew, and I didn't intend to interact with any dragons unless I had no choice.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Gwen was setting laundry on the clothesline when her father suddenly poked his head over the line.

"Boo!" he called out "Did I surprise you?"

"You certainly did!" Gwen agreed, with a smile on her face.

Tom then handed her a small object that was wrapped in cloth.

"I've got another surprise for you" he said.

Gwen unwrapped the gift to find a silver button with an embossed star on it

"It's lovely" she told her father.

"Well, in case you ever need a spare…for this" he said next.

Tom the blacksmith then held up a purple-and-red dress with buttons that matched the one in Gwen's hand.

"It's beautiful!" Gwen said with a gasp.

"Well, you're a beautiful girl, Gwen, you deserve beautiful things," Tom told her with a smile.

His daughter didn't share his joy for long.

"But how?" Gwen asked worriedly. "I mean…it must have been expensive".

Indeed it had been.

"Oh, very," Tom agreed. "But we're on the up now. Things are going to be different".

Gwen narrowed her eyes, she was now worried. Sure the new spinning wheels had sold well, but her father had only made a few parts for the device.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Perhaps some new project had her father all excited.

"It'll be alright, trust me" Tom assured as he leaned over to kiss his daughter on the cheek. "I won't be back for supper, don't wait up".

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

According to rumour the notorious sorcerer Tauren had been spotted in Camelot, and the prince had been sent to investigate, and he in turn had called upon me to aid him, which served my plans well as I desire the mage stone that Tauren kept on his person.

Also this presence here should led to Morgana falling out with her guardian, assuming things went as I expected, and that point I would make my offer to her, inviting her to leave Camelot with me. I would tempt her with offers to learn magic and to be free of those who hunt magic users. But right now I needed to focus on acquiring the stone.

It was late, it was cold this night, despite it having been rather pleasant earlier, and I could tell that the prince as well as the guards with us would rather be in bed, but Uther wanted Tauren found as soon as possible, as did I, just for different reasons. I wanted the stone were as the king wanted Tauren dead, as the magic user had sworn to kill the king.

The prince and the guards followed me as I led them to Tom's forge. Even if I hadn't felt a great amount of magic being used I would have known were to look. We'd been wandering around the town rather aimlessly until now, and I was eager to end this night's duty.

Arthur kicked in the door and we found that Tom was in the forge with Tauren. He whirled around to look at us, and I saw that he was holding a lump of gold in his hand. Tauren immediately made a break for it, knocking over a table, as well as some other objects, in order to slow pursuit.

"Seize him!" Arthur called out.

The guards followed Tauren, but I'd knew that he be long gone by the time they made their way through the mess the magic user had made on his way out. Meanwhile Arthur reluctantly turned to Tom, and snatched the gold out of the blacksmith's hand.

"Highness…please…" Tom said nervously.

"You're under arrest," Arthur replied

As the guards attempted to chase Tauren and the prince was focused on the blacksmith I went for the mage stone and slipped into my pocket when no one was watching.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"Treason?" I heard Morgana ask incredulously.

She was currently standing with her guardian and unknown her half-brother, as well as myself as they discussed Tom's arrest. I would have joined in with the discussion, but I had nothing to say. I had no intention of letting the blacksmith die I would beam him out of the cell and make it look as if he'd escaped. I couldn't simply bring him back from the dead unlike the knights in case he was burned at the stake or beheaded, instead of simply getting hanged, which I could easily fix.

"Yes, Morgana, treason," King Uther replied "The blacksmith was consorting with a known enemy".

"Enemy?" Morgana repeated in a disbelieving tone "What enemy?"

"Tauren," Prince Arthur explained. "The leader of a band of renegade sorcerers who are sworn to bring down the kingdom".

Although clearly they weren't much of a threat as they'd failed to Camelot any harm for as long as I could remember, and my memories went back much further than I'd actually been here.

"And where is this Tauren now?" Morgana wondered.

"He escaped," Arthur admitted.

Morgana glared at him.

"Well then how can you be sure it was even him?" she asked.

I could be certain because I'd sensed the stone being used and I was sure that it would take a true sorcerer to be able to use such a powerful item.

"Because Arthur saw him with his own eyes," Uther informed her.

The king then took a drink from his goblet of wine.

"Even if the man is who you say he is, you can't sentence Tom to death just for being seen with him!" Morgana protested.

I agreed with that, but I kept my mouth shut as I wanted her ladyship and the king to have a falling out over this.

"We have reason to believe he was forging weapons for Tauren," Uther told his ward.

"Rubbish. He would never do such a thing," Morgana declared

To be fair I wouldn't have thought so either. I didn't know Tom well, but he'd been reasonable during our business dealings, and didn't strike me as a man who supply weapons to dangerous men.

"He was paid, in gold," Arthur said, holding up the lump he had confiscated from Tom. "Whatever he was doing, I don't think he was shoeing Tauren's horse".

Not even I tipped that well.

"This is madness!" Morgana cried out "You condemn a man with no proof!"

Uther turned away.

"I have enough proof" he muttered.

Morgana turned to me a pleading look in her eyes.

"Sir Gothic, have you nothing to say?" she asked me.

Thinking fast I came up with a way that might further endear me to Morgana without actually changing things to much.

"Sire, the blacksmith committed a crime, but we don't know for certain he meant treason," I said. "Tauren may have threatened Tom into whatever it was they were doing, or fooled him somehow. Please allow me some time to investigate what happened while the other knights search for the renagends. Then when I've discovered the truth of Tom's involvement I can present the evidence at a trail, and then you can decide his guilt or innocence".

I knew that my words would fall on deaf ears, when it came to matters of magic the king was never reasonable.

"He's right, Father," Arthur agreed. "We must give the blacksmith a fair trial, and that we need evidence".

If the prince had been king he certainly would have let me handle a proper investigation before passing judgement.

"He'll get a fair trial," Uther told us "And he'll be found guilty, because that's what he is. We already have all the facts we need".

We really didn't. For example I would very much like to know if Tauran had given the blacksmith exact order for the amount of molten lead he'd needed for the transfiguration. However once I had the stone I'd be able to experiment with it and find out for myself.

"If you execute Gwen's father, I will never forgive you," Morgana warned her guardian.

Uther turned back to his son, ignoring this ward's words.

"Tauren slept somewhere. He fed somewhere" the monarch of this land was now saying "Find anyone who helped him in any way. They must be punished. The people must see that the laws of Camelot are not to be trifled with."

With that he walked out of the room, as soon as he was gone the prince turned to me.

"The blacksmith may know something about Tauren was up to" said Arthur "If you think you can get some answers then do so".

With that I turned to leave.

"But don't harm him" the prince ordered.

I had no need to torture people, it was an ineffective way of getting information, I had better methods.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Not for the first time the Lady Morgana came into my room without so much as a knock.

"Why did you even go to Tom's forge last night?" Morgana asked me "If you knew a sorcerer was there why would you led Arthur too him".

I didn't care at all about Tauren's fate, he meant nothing to me. Thankfully Morgana kept talking so I didn't actually have to answer that question,

"You know this is a mistake" she was now saying "Gwen talked to her father, she says he had no idea Tauren was a sorcerer".

I'd spoken to him as well. According to Tom the man known as Tauren had been paying him well for purified lead, but it was only last night that the blacksmith found out what the sorcerer had been doing with the metal. I didn't know if Tauren was using lead for any special reason, but even if the stone could only turn lead into gold, which was useless to me, it still had other features.

"Have you seen Gwen?" I asked.

The maid and future queen also meant little to me, but right now it suited me if Morgana focused on her friend rather than on Tauren.

"She's resting. Gaius is watching over her" I was told.

Morgana began to pace the length room.

"This is not right" she said "Tom is one of the most decent men I've ever met. But as soon as he was seen with Tauren, his fate was sealed, and we all know it. I'm just the only one with the courage to stand up to Uther and tell him that he is wrong. All the knights here who swore to defend the people, and not one of them has the strength to stand up to Uthur, to do what is right".

I knew where she was going with this, she was trying to goad me into action, and it worked. I'd take action, if only to make her stop talking.

"Fine I'll save the blacksmith" I promised "Just don't ask me how".

She didn't. Instead she decided to use her mouth for kissing.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

I held the stone in my hands and moved it over the small lump of pure lead, which I had replicated for this experiment. I was using only a small amount as I didn't know how much of the work the stone would be doing, it might draw power from me for the transformation of matter and I didn't have a great deal of magical power as I still had so much to learn.

 _Ferian æt gylden. Ic búgan þéos. Ferian æt gylden_

Once the spell was done I saw that I had indeed turned lead into gold, which wasn't very impressive as I could just as easily have replicated some gold. I scanned the gold with my omni-tool and let Cortana go over the data.

"Pure gold" she told me "But it masses less than the lead it was made from".

Interesting, I wasn't sure what it meant, but I did find it interesting.

"So some of the mass was lost in the transformation" I said "My Matter Furnace works a little like that, to get a rare element I have to throw a lot of common elements in".

Perhaps in the case of the mage stone some of the mass was turned into energy and used to fuel the transformation, that would explain why lead was used despite iron being more easier to come buy. Lead was dense and the mage stone might have a volume limit.

Mass is the amount of matter an object contains, while volume was how much space it takes. The weight of what was getting transformed might be important as well as the size of it. Gold was a lightweight metal so a lot of mass could be lost in the transformation form lead to gold, so if iron was used the process might not create enough gold for it to be worthwhile if the stone required time to recharge.

I would like to find out more, such as if could turn lead into naquadah or mithril, but Tom the blacksmith would be waking up soon and I was sure that he would have many questions to ask me, and I couldn't be gone from Camelot for too long as I didn't know when Morgana would anger Uther enough to have her locked up.

For now I would put the mage stone away, and focus on Morgana, I had plenty of time to experiment, and I might need to talk to my dragonlord guest, he may have sensed what I was just doing, and might have something to say on the subject.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

I'd had Tom beamed to my fortress in the middle of the night, and it had taken some time to calm him down, as well as to test out the Mage stone, so as soon as I got back to the citadel it was morning and I was summoned to the council chambers were I found the prince, Morgana and the king.

At some point I'd become Arthur's trusted right hand man, which made some sense I was considered to be near his equal in fighting ability, and we'd spent time together hunting so I guess we were as close to friends as we could be given his social position. That could play in my favour when it came time to return to Camelot, but I could concern myself about that after I'd left.

"The blacksmith has broken out of the dungeons," Uther announced. "He's just proven his guilt. You will kill him on sight".

Well I wouldn't be obeying that order, if nothing else the guest quarters I'd given to Tom for his stay in my fortress had nice new carpets and while I could replicate new ones I'd rather not get blood on the existing carpets. It would be all messy.

"But the trial, Father!" Arthur protested.

"The trial is a formality, now," Uther said, clearly unconcerned with matters such as justice "I want him dead and an end to it".

With that Arthur and I began to walk out of the council chambers, but Morgana decided that this was the time to speak out in protest so we ended up going back in again.

"I remind you that you are speaking to your king" I heard Uther say.

While I'd missed the start of this argument I was going to get to hear its end.

"I remind you that a king is wise and just? Morgana retorted. "You are neither. You rule only with hate and fear".

While Uther was an evil git, he wasn't totally heartless, and I could tell that hearing that from his daughter had hurt his feelings.

"You know nothing of what it means to be king" Uther replied.

He walked over to a table and picked up a jug of wine before filling a goblet, like most parents he was driven to drinking by his children.

"The fate of Camelot rests in my hands" he reminded his ward "It's my responsibility to protect the people of this land from its enemies".

That was true, but Tom was an enemy of the land, then no one was safe.

"Then the kingdom is doomed, for one by one you make enemies of us all," Morgana said, having been thinking along the same lines as me.

Uther took a sip from a goblet of wine.

"You speak treason, Morgana" he warned.

She didn't back off.

"Only a madman hears the truth as treason" she said.

Uther turned to look at her.

"Take care, child, or I'll have you restrained" the king threatened.

Which he ended up having to do. I was surprised that Arthur allowed it. The only reason I did was because I wanted Morgana to see what Uther was really like so that she'd want to come away with me.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

Morgana struggled valiantly, but the guards hauled her into a cell and locked her wrists in heavy manacles while Uther watched from the doorway.

"And you will remain here, until you learn your lesson" said the king.

Morgana glared at him defiantly.

"Then release me, because I have learned it already" she replied "I know that you care not for me, nor anyone but yourself. That you have been driven mad with power. That you're a tyrant"

Uther turned away, apparently unfazed by her rant. A guard closed and locked the door. Morgana tried to run to the door, but her chains were only a few feet long. After a few moments, it sank in. Uther truly meant to leave her here.

Thankfully she wouldn't be in here for long.

(Line Break)

 **Camelot. Albion.**

"I'm sorry Sir Gothic, the king won't allow anyone...".

Cameron shot the guard before he could even finished the sentence. However since I did not approve of needless bloodshed the weapon she was using was set on stun. With the guards dealt with I looked around to make sure that it was clear to anyone who looked that the guards just hadn't fallen asleep on the job, and then I used my near-ascended powers to break open the lock.

I could have just beamed Morgana out of the cell, but I didn't think whisking away without her consent was such a good idea when her life wasn't actually in any danger. I wanted her as a companion and as a lover so it was important that she consent to leaving with me.

"Sir Gothic!" Morgana called out as I entered the cell.

I turned to Cameron.

"Wipe their memories and watch for more guards" I ordered her.

While I hadn't learned how to mess with memories using my powers, be they magical or not, the Stargate verse had a frankly ridiculous amount of technology that was used affect people's memories in some fashion. As such it wasn't hard to come up a device that could be placed and someone's head for a few seconds in order to erase very recent memories.

I turned back to Morgana, and with a wave of my hand I undid her restraints while wondering what sort of man would go so far as to chain his own child up in a dungeon. Confining her to her chambers would have been enough.

Part of me wanted to go up to the throne room and use my powers to end Uther's regin in a very painful way, and had this been an earlier Jump I would have done just that, but I was older and wiser than I used to be. I knew that Killing the king would end any chance of me ever being welcomed back to Camelot. And even though Morgana was mad with her father right now, if I killed him and she later found out that he was her father that could make things awkward for us. Besides I didn't want to make an enemy of Arthur.

"Won't you be discovered?" Morgana asked.

I liked that she thought of my safety over her own, she had a generous soul.

"No need to worry about that" I assured her ladyship "I'm leaving Camelot and I want to come with me".

I noticed that she was rubbing her wrists.

"Come here" I instructed.

Before she could say anything I used my powers to heal the bruises the manacles had given her while again feeling sorely tempted to go murder the king.

"Where could we go?" Morgana asked me.

Lucky for her I had sorted such things out well in advance.

"I have a place up north" I told her "Its isolated and safe".

Morgana rubbed her newly healed wrists.

"What about Tom?" she asked.

I smiled.

"He's long gone from here" I told her "I can explain more once we've left".

I was about to order Cortana to beam us out when Morgana spoke again.

"What about Gwen?" she asked "If I disappear along with her father then Uther will place the blame on her".

Using a girl as a scapegoat did sound like something the eldest Pendragon would do. I'd not intended to do anything to Gwen because she was suppose to be the future queen and I didn't want to mess that up. On the other hand Morgana would still need a maid, and if Uther killed Gwen that would really mess up the future, however if she was alive at the fortress she could one day return and still become queen.

"We can bring her along too" I decided "I'll have Cameron fetch her".

Morgana needed only a moment to think.

"I'll leave with you" she said.

Hearing that made me smile and before another moment passed I had my AI beam us both to the fortress.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author Note**

This is the last chapter as I'll be making it a multi part story like my other Jumpchain stories. After a time skip Morgana and Sir Gothic can start their travels around the world. Then I'll do a third story when they return to Camelot so that Sir Gothic can be a knight of the round table. I'm not sure when I'll write those. I'll decide after Xmas. For now enjoy these chapters and have a good Winter Solstice.

 **Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin**

 **Part 22**

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

While Jump Chan suddenly appearing at random was chaotic, she could be handy, having her do the whole fingers to the forehead trick in order to transfer information about Jump Chan really saved a lot of time when it came to educating my companions on the subject.

On the downside the mortal mind didn't react so well to getting flooded with so much information so quickly, as such it made people pass out. Morgana was a smart young lady, but her world view was much more limited than that of my other companions had been when I'd recruited them. Not due to any fault of her own, she just didn't have the education or the experiences my other companions had.

The existence of such things as alien worlds, alternate dimensions, time travel, super advanced technology and so on were much easier to accept when you already knew that it was possible to make trips to other planets and sometimes did so in your very own FTL capable space ships.

As such it took Morgana a long time to wake up once she'd gotten her upload of Jump Chain info, and when she woke up I was in a room I'd spent most of the night installing tech and tinkering with. It was a variation on the technology behind the galaxy map, and it was roughly based on the hologlobe I'd seen in one of the X-Com games back during my first life.

The purpose of the hologlobe was to alert me of any strange goings on that my satellites and probes picked up, and also to look cool. Mostly the latter at the moment as my satellites weren't detecting anything worthy of my attention, and didn't cover the whole planet just yet, not that they would pick magical objects or magical creatures, and there were any crashed alien space ships then they too dorment to be picked up on the scanners.

"Good morning" I said to Morgana "Sleep well?".

I closed down the hologlobe as it would be a distraction, and we had very important matters to discuss. Morgana would think it some sort of magical illusion and this wasn't the time to educate her on the difference between magic and technology.

"Well enough" she replied "Only now I'm sure I know why people shouldn't drink too much".

Apparently it was possible to get a hangover from an information overload.

"How much do you understand now?" I wondered.

She didn't answer right away, no doubt she was still trying to comprehend it all.

"Enough" she said "but somethings are confusing".

Jump Chan might have given her knowledge, however there was a difference between having information and true understanding. That would take time, thankfully she had plenty of it.

"It is hard to understand that you're not who I thought you were, yet still are" she said.

While selecting the drop in option when setting up a Jump made things simpler in many ways I'd given myself a background in this setting, which meant that Morgana had memories of me before I'd actually entered this world. I didn't think they were important memories for her as we hadn't socialised until after I'd become somewhat real, but that didn't mean she wasn't having trouble wrapping her head around the idea that her earlier memories of me had been manufactured.

"I'll explain everything in time" I promised "We don't have to leave this place until you're ready, and I promise that you're safe here. Uther won't find you".

Morgana seemed more relaxed now.

"Where would we go?" she wondered.

I turned on the hologlobe, having realised that it would actually aid me rather than simply serving as an unwanted distraction.

"This is Albion" I told her ladyship as I span the globe and zoomed in on what would one day be known as England "Camelot is just one of the kingdoms there".

I then zoomed out so that the globe now showed the whole planet.

"This is the world" I said next "Its larger than you can understand, and we can spend the next decade exploring lands were the people have never even heard of Camelot. There are places out there were magic is accepted, studied and taught to others, we go find them".

The possibility for adventures was endless as were the chances to learn. Given how many magic users there were here in Albion despite the Great Purge there should be plenty else where. Shamans, mystics, witches, wizards and who knew what or who were out there.

"I want to learn about magic" Morgana admitted "Will you teach me".

While I would like for her to become my devoted apprentice I was still only a mere padawan myself in terms of magic. Thankfully without the need to wear silly robes or a braid.

"There's much I can teach you" I told her "About science and technology, the universe, but magic isn't something I'm an expert in".

I could sense her disappointment and I could understand it. For all her life magic had been forbidden to her, and now that she was free to learn she had no one to teach her, at least no one for certain, or so she thought. I had made arrangements in advance.

Merlin's father wasn't the friendly sort, but he was far from evil, and I suspected that he would in fact be happy to pass on his knowledge. Besides I'd given him a dragon's egg, which was worth more than any amount of treasure, so he owed me big time.

"There's a man living here in this fortress who will teach you some stuff about magic" I informed her ladyship "And there are some spells I can show you. There's no rush to acquire magic there's more to life than power, try to remember that".

To learn for the sake of learning wasn't bad, but in experience acquiring power of any kind just for the sake of having power was short sighted and dangerous.

"So in exchange for becoming one of your companions you'll teach me magic and show me the world" Morgana summarized "That is hard to resist".

Given that she used the word 'companion' in the plural I figured she knew about the whole harem thing, which must have been a shocker.

"Are you okay with sharing?" I wished to know.

The whole harem thing could be a real deal breaker.

"It isn't something I've ever given much thought to" Morgana let me know "But none of this is".

She was going to need time to think things through.

"Well if you want to be my companion and get to see the multiverse then it's something you have to accept" I told her "Or I can send you somewhere. I could even send you back to Camelot. You can tell the king that I kidnapped you".

Morgana scowled.

"I never want to return to Camelot" she declared.

One day she would feel different about that. Of this I was sure of it.

"We can discuss it later" I decided "For now you should settle in, and take some time to think about your future".

I turned to Cameron.

"Show her ladyship to a guest room, and teach her how to use the modern facilities" I ordered "I'm sure she'd like to bathe, and you can help her with the feminine hygiene, you know how I like my women, and get her some clothes that she'll like".

I couldn't picture Morgana in the kind of bodysuit that my companions often wore, the image just wouldn't settle in my mind. As for the other stuff I really didn't want to think about what could go wrong when a medieval noble woman tried to figure out what do with modern plumping.

"What happened to Gwen?" the Seer wished to know.

"Not to worry, she's with her father" I answered "They haven't decided what do with themselves yet".

They could stay here. I had the room, and I could expand if needs be. But the world was a big place, a skilled blacksmith and talented seamstress would be welcome in many places. Although they'd have troubles given that they only spoke English and wouldn't be safe here in Albion. I could help with that, but in short term I wanted them to have time together.

"I'd like you to join me for dinner later" I said to Morgana.

While I rarely ordered about anyone in my harem, as it wasn't often I had to, I wanted to make it clear to Morgana that I was in charge here without being an asshole about it like her father.

It wasn't until Morgana left the room that I realised that I could have made my offer to her just by singing that 'Whole New World' song that was in the Aladdin film. Morgana was technically a princess and while I lacked a flying carpet I could easily put together some sort of flying machine.

Then again maybe not, if anyone could sue me across time and while I was in another reality it would be the Disney corporation.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

There was no talking as Cameron dished out the meal she had put together. Our change of location and circumstances didn't seem to have led to her ending her role as a servant. Perhaps she'd realised that exposing her true self was unwise while the people now living in my fortress were still adjusting. Not that there was any need to act right now as Morgana had decided to be fashionable late for dinner.

This dining room, and the massive wooden table that took up a lot of the rooms internal space, was to large for one person to sit out without feeling a bit silly, but sit here I did while sipping at the hot soup that had just been dished up for me.

"Is something on your mind?" I asked Cameron.

She didn't exactly seem distracted, yet I got the sense that she was thinking something over.

"Yes, Master. I am considering what will happen when you give Lady Morgana access to your files" the cyborg told me.

Yes I would do that at some point in the near future. Her ladyship had been given a lot of info on Jump Chain, however that wouldn't tell much about this world or the universes we might visit in the future. Not that was what would concern Cameron.

"You're worried about how Morgana will react when she discovers the fact that she has a large family she doesn't even know about" I said "That could be an issue".

Finding out that Uther was her father and he'd never told her wasn't a big problem as Morgana would see that as as just another reason never again to talk to the king. Arthur she would feel more neutral towards, and might still have some affection for, and that was okay as we might see him again.

Morgause on the other hand was a different issue. Morgana had a sister she'd never known about, and I needed to tell her about that, it was better coming from me than someone else.

When her ladyship entered the room, having dressed very formally for dinner, I couldn't help smiling. Clearly she'd gone to great effort to make herself look good, and she'd done so for me I felt sure. There was no else around here for to impress.

"Is there something you wish to talk to me about, Sir Gothic?" Morgana asked as she took her seat.

Since it was possible that she'd heard some of what I'd been speaking to Cameron I knew that I had best be honest with the Seer.

"Actually yes" I told her "I need to tell you that I have access to a lot of information about this world and some of the people in it, and that includes you".

I had her undivided attention.

"You have a sister" I informed the magic user "And she's well... evil".

Morgana was understandably surprised.

"How is she evil?" I was asked.

I would have expected her to ask where this sister was, or at least her name.

"She's called Morgause" I informed the Seer "I don't know where she is now, but I do know that she's undergoing training by the High Priestesses and that she plots to destroy Camelot".

It was important that I tell Morgana all about her sibling.

"While she's aware that you are her sister, she's never made any effort to contact you" I told Morgana "And from what I know about her I don't think she'd ever have your best interests at heart".

In fact I figured that Morgause simply saw Morgana as a means to an end, a way to obtain power for herself through a proxy. That was why in the show when Camelot was taken it was Morgana who sat on the throne, Morgana having a claim to the throne allowed Morgause to control things by controlling Morgana. If Morgause had actually ever truly cared about Morgana she would have gotten her sister away from Uther as soon as possible.

"How can you say that about her?" Morgana asked me, sounding hurt "She's my sister".

Because I was pretty sure that Morgana's corruption was due to Morgause. In the show the two sisters disappeared for a year and when Morgana returned to Camelot she was willing to see her home invaded by a hostile army were as before she'd only wanted Uther punished for his sins. Or at least that was my opinion, given my feelings for Morgana I could be wrong.

"I'll give you access to my files, they contain all the information I have on your sister and what happens if you two get to know each other" I said to her ladyship "Read about what could happen to you and your sister in the future, then decide if meeting her is the right thing to do".

Morgana didn't reply right away, she busied herself for a few moments by eating some soup.

"Very well" she then said.

I had a feeling that the rest of dinner would pass by without many words getting exchanged.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

While it might seem like a waste of time for me to plan a trip around the world to seek out magic users and adventure without even knowing who was going with me, I'd decided to do it anyway as if Morgana did decided to seek out her sister it wouldn't really change my actions. I couldn't go back to Camelot without Morgana even when Arthur ruled.

2D images were in the air around me, and each image showed something or someone that was of interest to me. My probes had expanded out and I'd launched more so now they were looking over the land that would in the future be known as Ireland.

That country had rich mythology to say the least, but so far all my probes had found were villages and the odd castle, not much different from Albion, with a minor difference that were many clans of druids still in Ireland were as there were few here in Albion.

If there were whole races of magical creatures living in Ireland then they were very well hidden. Which made sense as Uther wasn't the only powerful man with an anti-magic agenda, and I'd heard of kings who if anything were even crueler towards magic users than Uther, as hard as that was to imagine.

"What will you do if Morgana doesn't want to join you on Jump Chain?" Cortana asked me.

Her avatar had just appeared on one of the floating 2D screens. Replacing a view of some standing stones, which were sites I wanted to check out during my trip.

"Well if I can't send her home" I answered "So I guess all I could do is transport her to the Isle of the Blessed. I saw Morgause there and she seemed to know Nimueh rather well so I figure that she visits the island regularly".

In retrospect it might have been wise to have a probe track Morgause, but it didn't really matter that much as I had a feeling that Morgana would join me. I could offer the whole world and then more, and she understood Jump Chain at all she'd realise what it could do for her.

While I wanted to go and talk to her, to explain what I could offer, I knew it was wise not to overwhelm the young woman. She had to decide for herself how her future would unfold. All I could do for now was to find ways to keep myself busy and to make sure that I was here if Morgana wanted to talk.

Despite knowing that I couldn't help crossing my fingers and hoping that she'd chose me.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

As it turned out she didn't want to talk much, Morgana gave herself to me in exchange for wealth, power, security, knowledge, adventure and I suspected at least partly out of love. Which wasn't really that shocking as I'd carefully laid the foundations for this relationship and my hard work was now paying off. Of course I was sure that the promise of being accepted for her magic, and getting away from her evil guardian also had parts to play in her making up her mind.

I shouldn't have been surprised that she chose me over a sister she didn't know who would led her to a dark future, not much of a second choice, and her third choice would have been to return to Uther in the hopes that he would believe that I'd kidnapped her. Which could have worked.

Morgana decided to give herself to me in the most sexy way possible, and had told me that she was mine to do with as I pleased. Which I correctly took to mean that I could fuck her as much as I wanted, when I wanted, within reason. She seemed to have accepted that her place was as one of my companions, and I would make sure that she would never regret her choice.

Rather than talk more I decided to get to the sex. It took some strength and determination to prize open her bodice, the fabric gave and her milky white breasts spilled into view and as expected I was soon kneading the tender flesh while sucking on her nipples. I wanted her nice and wet between her legs when I took her virginity, which I felt certain was intact.

She fidgeted a little and hummed as I enjoyed myself. Then she began to relax and enjoy herself too. Letting her long nails run through my hair and I switched between her perky nipples.

When I got bored of this there was the rustling of bunching skirts, as while Morgana didn't mind showing off her cleavage, she was a lady and therefore wore a power dresses, this was bad for me as it made getting to her pussy a bit of a chore for me. However I got there in the end and once I did I quickly got my trousers off so I could insert Tab A into Slot B.

Soon I was inside her and I quickly came up against her maidenhead, and I knew that it would not be pleasant for her if I broke it.

"I'm fine, really" she said, without needing me to ask her.

That was all I needed.

I thrusted into her and all the reaction I got from her was "Aah" She was tough lady, and that was sometimes easy to forget given how vulnerable she seemed to me. I desired to protect her, well mostly, right now I desired to fuch her sensless.

Which was something I got to work on doing, and despite the pain she had to be in, at least at first her ladyship made no move to stop me as I took her innocence. The bed that was the guestroom, that was now Morgana's room, barely creaked as I thrusted into her as I was going slowly, but I was now feeling the need to speed up.

"Mmh"

Now the bad part of was over, and Morgana was feeling good too, I could focus more on what I was feeling. She was so slick and hot it was almost too much to bear. If I'd know it would be this good I would have found a way to take her sooner. As it was all I could do now was make up for lost time and lose myself in the pleasure of getting to fuck a woman was pretty much a princess.

(Line Break)

 **Fortress of Ismere. Albion.**

When Cameron strode into the room it was clear to me that she'd undressed before coming into Morgana's room to serve breakfast. She'd stripped down to her bra and panties, and was wearing high heels. Apparently even cyborg women got jealous as clearly this was some attempt to get attention from me, and I had just spent the night with my new companion.

"Is she going to serve us in such a state every morning" Morgana asked me.

Given that her ladyship was totally naked under the covers, I'd pretty much destroyed her dress last night, it seemed odd of her to wonder about such a thing.

"If she wants to" I said "Cameron exists to make me happy, and she takes that job very seriously".

While it seem petty that I had much larger breakfast that Morgana, that might be because my new lover wasn't known for eating a lot.

"I exist to serve" my Terminator said.

With that she left the room, leaving Morgana and I to talk.

"So when will we start our journey?" she asked me.

I'd already considered this.

"My intention is to start with nearby lands" I informed the Seer "But it is winter so we might want to wait".

I was sure we'd find something to in the meantime.

"Perhaps you could teach some magic before we go anywhere" Morgana suggested "I think it would be good for me to know a little before we seek out people who can teach us both more".

That made sense, so I nodded to signal my agreement.

"I know it might be dangerous" her ladyship said "but do you think it would be possible for you to my chambers in Camelot and gather some of my things. I know you have magic devices that make clothes, but I a lot of my clothes and jewellery were gifts that I would hate to see left behind".

That would be easy enough. I could just beam into the room, shove everything into my pouch of holding, and beam out again. My probes could ensure that the coast was clear, and if needs be I'd make the coast clear, I could also beam out to avoid getting caught.

"I'll take care of it today" I promised.

Morgana then got out of bed, and headed towards the bathroom.

"Don't be gone all day" she said as I as checked out her bottom "I'd miss you terribly".

I spent a moment wondering if it was too early to introduce her to shower sex or not, but I decided to stay in bed and eat my food. I wasn't in any rush and I would teach Morgana many things, including the fun of shower sex.


End file.
